NBA Trade Rumors: Lakers Must Move Pau Gasol to Rockets to Add Depth

In his take on the most recent Lakers-Celtics game, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports gave an interesting new possibility on the Lakers that would have them moving Pau Gasol. 

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The Houston Rockets still have a longing for Gasol, but the Lakers would want a player the Rockets are most reluctant to part with: point guard Kyle Lowry. The Lakers could probably pry a combination of Kevin Martin and Luis Scola for Gasol, league sources said, but it’s doubtful they’ll move Gasol without solving their point guard problem.

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While I understand the need for a point guard, the Lakers would be foolish to dismiss the possibility of adding Martin and Scola. 

Take a look at the objective comparisons of the three players.

	Age	MPG	PPG	APG	RPG	SPG	BPG
Pau Gasol	31	37.3	16.8	3.0	10.2	0.5	1.3
Kevin Martin	29	32.6	18.0	2.6	3.0	0.8	0.0
Luis Scola	31	30.1	15.3	1.7	5.7	0.4	0.3

Nothing about Gasol suggests that he's worth two quality players, especially to a team like the Lakers that are in need of depth.

This trade would help put some of Los Angeles' true role players into a more familiar, better role. 

With this move, either Martin or Kobe Bryant could switch to small forward on defense, and Bryant basically would control the offense like a point guard anyway. 

It would give the Lakers a starting lineup of Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Andrew Bynum. That looks a lot better than the unit currently in place, and it would also take minutes away from players that don't deserve them. 

That is really the important thing to note here.

With the exception of Bryant, Gasol and Bynum, nobody currently on the Lakers should be logging over 20 minutes a game.

Still, Derek Fisher is over 26 a night, Steve Blake is nearly 25 (when he actually plays) and Metta World Peace is just shy of 23. But then there's Matt Barnes, who only logs fewer than 22 minutes. 

That is too much for players of that caliber.

Scola would basically fill Gasol's minutes, but the gap there would be more than made up for with addition of Martin's offense in the lineup along with the other players reducing their minutes. 

One little two-for-one trade would go a long way in adding depth to a Lakers team that is in dire need of it.

Kevin Martin would also take defenders in the back court away from Kobe Bryant, which makes him a threat to go for 50 every night. 

Lowry is not going to be available for the taking, nor will any point guards of that caliber. This trade would make the Lakers a better team right now. Any trade that does that is one that the Lakers need to pull the trigger on.

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