Lakers Rumors: Latest Trade Reports Following 2017 NBA Draft Lottery
The Los Angeles Lakers, led by new president Magic Johnson, stared disaster in the eye Tuesday night at the NBA draft lottery.
They didn't blink.
The Lakers landed the No. 2 selection in the 2017 NBA draft, but had the pick fallen out of the top three, the Lakers would've sent it to the Philadelphia 76ers—the Steve Nash trade says hello, and finally, goodbye.
Crisis avoided, the Lakers just set off a tornado's worth of rumors. How will Magic clean up the cap-space mess predecessors created? Who's the pick at No. 2? Does the roster need to ship away a notable name so Magic can get his preferred top-tier prospect on the court?
The rumor mill has a little bit of everything right after the lottery, so let's take a look.
Nets and Cap Relief?
About those bad contracts hinted above.
The Lakers became a laughingstock of sorts for giving center Timofey Mozgov a $64 million contract. Said laughter hasn't exactly faded because Mozgov appeared in all of 54 games and gave the team averages of 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
There's bad teams overpaying for mediocre talent to jump start a rebuild and then there's what the Lakers did with Mozgov.
And there's only one way out.
If Magic wants to clear some cap space for something crazy like, say, Paul George in 2018, it means convincing a team with plenty of cap such as the Brooklyn Nets to take Mozgov off his hands.
According to reporter Adrian Wojnarowski during his appearance on the Chris Mannix Show (h/t Anthony Irwin of Silver Screen & Roll), Brooklyn will be on the hunt for these sorts of deals.
"If they want to get off of Luol Deng’s or Mozgov—and Mozgov is the more likely deal—let’s say a team like Brooklyn that has lots of cap space and needs picks. Brooklyn will be out there on the market looking at teams that have a bad contract they want to get off, but only if they will either attach a young player or a draft pick," Wojnarowski said.
This isn't the most exciting sort of move. But the Lakers haven't been going for the big splashes lately anyway. Moving Mozgov is a forward-looking decision and the necessary removal of a mistake to attain further flexibility down the road, so fans should be on the lookout for something like it to happen this offseason.
The Idea of Trading No. 2
Would Magic deal the second pick?
Sounds crazy, but look at the talent already on the roster—he's got D'Angelo Russell at the point alongside Jordan Clarkson. Brandon Ingram has the upside of an elite star. Julius Randle is a great forward prospect. A center or elite 2 guard might not be a worthwhile value at No. 2.
So maybe dealing the second pick isn't so wild.
At the least, team executive Rob Pelinka makes it sound like such a move might be on the table, according to the Los Angeles Times' Tania Ganguli:
Most Lakers fans probably have the same pipe dream—if Magic is going to up and deal the second pick, it might as well be in a package to bring the aforementioned George to town.
Not a bad idea. Or, the Lakers could grab a No. 2 prospect and hope George, a California kid wanting to contend for titles, comes to town in 2018.
Either approach sounds like a good idea, though the real takeaway here is simple—the Lakers finally have options again.
D’Angelo Russell Trade?
Now for the bombshell dropped on the NBA realm right after the lottery concluded.
Continuing the theme of options, perhaps Magic decides to up and trade Russell while taking one of the draft's top point-guard prospects.
Such is the line of thinking employed by Sports Illustrated's Jake Fischer, who wrote teams have already started considering a move for Russell: "With the Los Angeles Lakers coming away with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft following Tuesday night’s lottery, multiple NBA teams are evaluating trade packages for D’Angelo Russell, league sources told SI.com."
Note this doesn't say the Lakers have already outright considered moving Russell. But from one perspective it makes sense, as the 2017 class touts downright silly depth at point guard.
UCLA's Lonzo Ball is the oft-linked prospect when it comes to the Lakers. He's 6'5" and 195 pounds, hails from California and is easily the best passing guard in the class, which is saying something.
But Ball's skill set in particular makes his fit alongside Russell interesting. Russell himself played some 2 last year and looked great while doing so before finishing the season with averages of 15.6 points while shooting 40.5 from the floor and 35.2 percent from deep. Though it leaves Clarkson in limbo, Ball and Russell could absolutely form a strong starting one-two punch.
Even in the face of this line of thinking, it's clear based on Los Angeles' roster, the No. 2 spot and draft class itself that Russell will be the Lakers player talked about most in trade rumors.
All stats and info via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
