NBA Trade Deadline 2012: The One Trade the LA Lakers Must Make

LAKERS TRADE: Steve Blake, Devin Ebanks, $8M Trade Exception, Mavs & Lakers' 2012 No. 1 Picks

TRAIL BLAZERS TRADE: Ray Felton, Jamal Crawford and Kurt Thomas

This trade simply needs to be made for the sake of both franchises.

I'm breaking my own rules set in this article a bit, as this is technically two trades; the Lakers' trade exception cannot be combined with other players. However, it is essentially a single trade between two teams.

The Lakers would trade Steve Blake and Devin Ebanks for Jamal Crawford with a follow-up trade of their trade exception and both of their first-round draft picks for Ray Felton and Kurt Thomas.

This is as close to a no-brainer trade as it gets for the Los Angeles Lakers. They are a solid team this season, but nowhere near as good as they were two years ago—the last time they won the NBA title.

The Lakers have three main weaknesses: point guard, small forward and frontcourt depth. This trade would solve all three problems in one fell swoop.

Ray Felton is a quality starting point guard in this league and the Lakers would be vastly improved with him running their team.

Jamal Crawford is certainly better than any backup shooting guard the Lakers have on their roster and could actually start at the position for the Lakers, allowing Kobe Bryant to move to small forward, greatly upgrading that position as well.

Kurt Thomas is far superior to any backup big man the Lakers currently have, and his warrior mentality and professionalism would be well received by the Lakers.

As for the Portland Trail Blazers, they are not going to win the NBA title this year, or even make the playoffs, in all likelihood. They are also going to lose the trio of Felton, Crawford and Thomas to other teams in free agency this coming offseason.

This being the case, the Blazers would be insane to turn down the opportunity to acquire two first-round draft picks in this year's extremely deep draft, as well as a solid, veteran point guard on an inexpensive contract in former Blazer Steve Blake.

Devin Ebanks also has talent, but is little more than throw-in.

The actual trade exception itself could come in handy and be quite beneficial for the Blazers down the line.

There have been reports that the Clippers and Timberwolves are both interested in trading for Jamal Crawford. However, neither team has a first-round draft pick in this year's draft to offer Portland. Therefore the Lakers offer the best return on Portland's mere half-season investment in Crawford.

This is a trade that should happen, and some variation of it probably will.