NBA Trade Rumors: Trading Pau Gasol for Top Point Guard a No-Brainer for Lakers

So, we know that the Los Angeles Lakers probably are not going to be trading Pau Gasol to the Boston Celtics for Rajon Rondo.

That rumor was fun while it lasted, but it was killed on Thursday night shortly before the Lakers took on, and ultimately beat, the Celtics.

The Lakers do, however, need a point guard. Mitch Kupchak hinted as much to Lakers.com last week and Adrian Wojnarowski, of Yahoo! Sports, dove into the team's point guard dilemma on Friday.

The key passage of Wojnarowski's report is this one: "Everyone knows the Lakers need a point guard, and the price of a top playmaker remains the same: Gasol."

Wojnarowski notes that the Houston Rockets still have "a longing" for Gasol, but they would be pretty reluctant to part with Kyle Lowry.

The Lakers might be able to get Kevin Martin or Luis Scola, but it's likely that the Lakers will only move Gasol if it means solving their point guard woes.

It doesn't need to be argued that the Lakers have a point guard problem. They do. Derek Fisher has never been a major contributor, but in the past, he always had the ability to come up with a clutch shot (or a clutch flop). This year, Fisher's shooting has been awful and he's only giving the Lakers about 26 minutes a night.

The guys next to Fisher on the depth chart leave a lot to be desired. None of them represent a better option than Fisher, meaning the team's point guard dilemma will not be solved in-house.

Trading Gasol for a top point guard would improve the Lakers dramatically. It's true that they would no longer have the luxury of having two dominant big men in Gasol and Andrew Bynum, but it must be kept in mind that Gasol has taken a backseat to Bynum anyway. A point guard who could step in and distribute and do a little scoring would more than make up for Gasol's absence.

There's also no telling what kind of positive effect a top point guard could have on Kobe Bryant. Kobe has to create a lot of shots for himself and the results can be mixed. Even when Kobe is knocking down shots, he's missing more than he's making. He's also wearing himself out.

Kobe would still have to have the ball in his hands the majority of the time if he were to play alongside a top point guard, but he would also get to play off the ball a lot more. That could only help.

If the Lakers were to trade Gasol for a point guard, the worst thing that could happen is they miss out on the NBA Finals. When you consider the fact that this Lakers team isn't good enough to make the Finals as it is currently constructed, that's not such a horrible fate.

The truth is that Kupchak has every excuse to roll the dice with this team. Gasol is the biggest trade chip he has at his disposal. If Kupchak can swing him for a point guard, he shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger.