Lakers Rumors: LA Thought They Had 'Great Chance' at Dejounte Trade amid Hunter Buzz

The Atlanta Hawks reportedly could find a trade partner for swingman De'Andre Hunter in the Los Angeles Lakers, but an expert warned that this could be a case of deja vu.

While speaking about a potential trade between the Hawks and Lakers for Hunter on this week's episode of The Hoop Collective, ESPN's Brian Windhorst revealed that Los Angeles had already tried to acquire one of Atlanta's top players but was unsuccessful.

"The Hawks went down this road last year with the Lakers," Windhorst said (26:40 mark). "There was a time where there was a lot of momentum, at least on the Lakers' side, where they thought they had a great chance to get Dejounte Murray."

The Hawks ended up keeping Murray through the end of the 2023-24 campaign before trading him to the New Orleans Pelicans in July.

Windhorst added that the Hawks were uninterested in the inclusion of Lakers point guard D'Angelo Russell in the deal. However, with Russell in the final year of his contract, Atlanta could be more open to acquiring him in exchange for Hunter.

"At the end of the day, D'Angelo Russell being in that deal--and I don't know if they were gonna have a third team or whatever--the Hawks weren't down with that. At the end of the day, they weren't going in that direction," Windhorst said. "So, you'd be going back on old ground there where they had already said no, although, granted, they know that this would be the ending year of his contract, that's a different situation."