Los Angeles Lakers Should Trade Nick Young, but Good Luck Finding a Partner

Right now, Nick Young is an aging role player, and the Los Angeles Lakers are a very bad basketball team trending toward a total teardown.

Entering this season, both parties appeared headed in a different direction, but last week Young's relationship with the organization took an uncomfortable turn. The Lakers say they're committed to winning, and Young's skill set can, in some ways, help them do so. But the 30-year-old instead finds himself on the bench, unable to complement teammates who duplicate one another's production value.

Will they part ways sooner than later?

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The good, the bad and the ugly

Young is an accurate shooter with range, an increasingly coveted characteristic in a league that’s fallen head over heels for space and efficiency. According to Synergy Sports, he ranks in the 89th percentile as a spot-up threat. (Only 13.9 percent of L.A.'s offensive possessions end in such attempts, which ranks dead last in the league. They could use more of them.)

Unfortunately, that’s all Young can do. He doesn’t pass, play defense, rebound or create off the dribble. The Lakers don’t run plays for him unless they’re down by 25 points. Still, on paper, he’s the exact type of player head coach Byron Scott could use to boost the NBA's third-worst offense.

D’Angelo Russell, Lou Williams, Jordan Clarkson and Kobe Bryant all need/want the ball in their hands to impact the game. Young can give them room to operate. He's shooting 39.8 percent from behind the three-point line and 41.2 percent on catch-and-shoot attempts this season, according to SportVU.

Instead, his usage percentage has never been lower, and after scoring a season-high 22 points against the Indiana Pacers on November 29, the eight-year veteran has completely fallen out of Scott’s rotation for reasons that aren’t clear:

Despite two more guaranteed years on his contract ($5.4 million in 2016-17 followed by a $5.6 million player option in 2017-18, according to Basketball Insiders), Young’s future in Los Angeles has never been more in doubt. He’s played a grand total of seven minutes over the team's last four games. 

Here’s what Young said after getting ejected for shoving Anthony Tolliver in the throat after Sunday’s blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons, via ESPN’s Baxter Holmes: "It's tough. There's a lot of frustration. It's a struggle and it's building up. Everything happened on that play. He just happened to be the one that sparked the incident."

It's been a tough season for just about everyone involved with the Lakers, but Young's demotion is particularly joyless. 

Can he help them win games? Sure, if that's what L.A. is truly interested in doing. For all his flaws, Young's offensive skill set is a decent fit. Before his benching, the Lakers were using him in useful ways.

Here's one example: a high pick-and-roll where Young and Brandon Bass came to screen for Russell. Bass rolled while Young popped out behind the three-point line. It isn't brain surgery, but it shows how Young can alleviate pressure on plays that get him open. 

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But if Scott would rather play Bryant and Metta World Peace at small forward and give minutes to Marcelo Huertas and Robert Sacre, what's the point of pretending Young has a place in L.A.? A trade would be the logical answer, but finding a partner would be almost impossible. 

Any takers?

Any willing team would have to view him as a missing puzzle piece. But who would that be? At this stage of his career, he isn't talented enough to mask his many flaws. He's not a bargain, either—even with a rising salary sap, the length of his contract is unsavory.

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For the sake of due diligence, here are a few candidates Los Angeles could call before the trade deadline.

Miami Heat

Behind versatile, energetic defense, solid bench play and star power in the starting lineup, Miami is really humming. But in a seven-game series, will their offense get stuck in the mud? It's a legitimate question.

Right now, they're 28th in three-point accuracy (30th on uncontested attempts, according to SportVU) and don't really have any dangerous outside shooters on the roster outside Tyler Johnson, Chris Bosh and—sometimes—Goran Dragic. 

Gerald Green was brought in to spruce up the attack, but he's shooting just 23.3 percent from deep over his past 10 games. This is where Young may be able to help, and the Heat could probably get him for Chris Andersen's expiring deal.

The Lakers would do this for financial reasons—shedding Young's contract would give them extra cap room to fill this summer. And maybe Miami, like the following teams, is convinced Young will opt out of his contract after next season.

Houston Rockets

The Rockets love the three-point line, but the rim isn't cooperating this season. Young isn't the solution but could potentially boost their accuracy from deep and give James Harden more space on drives to the basket.

Manufacturing a deal that makes sense is tough, though. If Daryl Morey felt his window closing, would he swap out K.J. McDaniels? It all seems far-fetched.

Memphis Grizzlies

Memphis needs outside shooters, too and could dangle Vince Carter's contract (only $2 million guaranteed next year, according to Basketball Insiders) for Young's services. But the Grizzlies are slowly turning things around and should soon realize that this is a transition year. Adding salary wouldn't be wise.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder already have their fair share of one-dimensional three-point shooters, but, um, why not add another? If Anthony Morrow or Kyle Singler went down with an injury, Sam Presti and Billy Donovan would have insurance with Young.

It's a terrible idea, and there's almost no way to work out a trade that makes any sense (short of packaging Lakers' forward Brandon Bass), but the Thunder are in win-now territory, and you can never have too many floor-spacers when Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are your two best players. 

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The bottom line

Young's trade value is a shade above nonexistent. Moving him with any hope of receiving something of value is borderline fantasy.

Beyond a short-term breakup, is there any chance Young could help the Lakers next season, say, after they sign two impact free agents?

It's not an easy question to answer. Young will be 31 years old but essentially playing in a contract year, looking to boost his stature for one last payday. The days of thinking he can become an unselfish player are long over, but if he accepts his role as a seldom-used spot-up sniper, then...maybe? 

The one thing he's good at is being prone to slumps and lulls. It's tough to rely on someone whose lone strength is inconsistent by nature. But back in the here and now, the Lakers would be wise to put Young in their rotation—if for no other reason than to trick some team into thinking he might be the three-point shooter it sorely needs.