Lakers Rumors: Latest Buzz on Damian Lillard Trade and Anthony Davis' Future
Despite employing the best basketball player on the planet, the Los Angeles Lakers spend much of their time glimpsing into the future.
Part of that comes with the territory of existing during the Golden State Warriors' dynastic sprint through the NBA. But another part stems from the recognition that the club LeBron James joined this summer remains an unfinished product.
L.A.'s 0-3 start to the 2018-19 campaign hammers that last part home. Granted, the Lakers started with a tough schedule and haven't been run out of the gym by anyone. But when the best scorer in the starting five not named LeBron is JaVale McGee, it's clear there are some significant roster holes to fill.
Naturally, it wouldn't be Hollywood if some huge names weren't being tossed around as potential solutions.
Option No. 1 has reportedly been hand-picked by the King himself.
"LeBron wants to play with Damian Lillard," The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor said (h/t Nico Martinez of Fadeaway World). "He's one of the guys he'd like to play with and that's chatter around the league. It has been since before LeBron signed with the Lakers, it was one of the many indicators that he was heading there."
O'Connor is hardly the only person to broach this topic.
ESPN's Zach Lowe chimed in with, "Lillard is a perfect fit next to LeBron, and LeBron respects Lillard's game," while speculating about a Lillard deal built around Lonzo Ball. The Ringer's Bill Simmons threw out a hypothetical swap of Lillard for Ball and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The chatter has been loud enough to reach Lillard, and the three-time All-Star didn't exactly shoot it down:
Now, none of this means Lillard coming to the Lakers is imminent or even likely.
He's the backbone of the Portland Trail Blazers, on and off the floor. He has talked about spending his entire career with them. All of their present plans are tied to his success, and perhaps the only way that changes is if Portland pulls the plug on this entire nucleus.
That said, it's easy to see why Lillard would be on James' radar.
Lillard plays a lot like Kyrie Irving, James' former sidekick who helped the Cleveland Cavaliers bring home the 2016 title. Both are scoring point guards who can shoot beyond the three-point line and burn defenders off the bounce. Last season, each was an 85th percentile scorer on isolations.
As James' NBA odometer continues to climb—he's logged over 44,000 minutes just in the regular season—he could use a star player capable of relieving some of his pressure. Lillard has already been the leading man on a top-three seed, so it's easy to envision him as the second-best player on a contender.
Again, though, this would require Portland's willingness to let him go. That's almost impossible to envision right now with Lillard locked up through the 2020-21 season.
But as the Lakers learned this offseason, sometimes big dreams can become massive victories.
There may not be a bigger dream get than 25-year-old, all-galaxy superstar Anthony Davis.
He was the second-most popular pick as a franchise centerpiece in this year's version of NBA.com's annual GM survey. (Giannis Antetokounmpo held the No. 1 spot.)
So far, Davis is making that praise seem not high enough.
Through three games, he's a top-10 scorer (30.3 points, sixth), rebounder (13.0, sixth), shot-blocker (3.3, first) and thief (2.0 steals, tied for eighth). But unlike some of the other hot starters, none of Davis' numbers feel fluky. His 2017-18 stat line wasn't that much different (28.1 points, 11.1 boards, 2.6 rejections and 1.5 steals).
If every club had its wish-list whiteboard leaked, Davis would likely hold a top-two spot on most of them.
So, the Lakers aren't different for coveting Davis. What sets them apart, though, is the possibility they can eventually bring him on board.
Sort of.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski explained on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Show (h/t RealGM):
"My sense has always been with Anthony that he is always: some players are looking for reasons to stay and some players are looking for reasons to leave. I've always thought that Anthony is a guy looking for reasons to stay in New Orleans. And I think that will continue to be the case until he feels he's out of them.
"I do think down the line that the Boston and L.A., if he became available, that will be interesting, especially if the Lakers get shut out this summer."
Basically, the Lakers need two things to happen for this to become interesting.
For starters, they'll need Davis to believe he doesn't have a realistic shot at contending with the Pelicans. While one may assume he's leaning that direction with just one playoff series win (and two appearances) to show for his first six seasons, it's possible this year's group is as strong as ever. It's too early to read deep into statistics, but we'd be remiss without mentioning New Orleans sits second in net efficiency rating.
Still, the squad doesn't have a second star to support Davis, and its wing rotation looks hit or miss at best. Maybe that forces him to eventually look outside the Big Easy.
The second part of the equation is L.A. must be as attractive as possible if and when Davis makes that decision.
Assuming this happens by 2020—when he can first reach free agency—he could be targeted by a who's who of contenders. The Golden State Warriors have surfaced as a potential destination. The same goes for the Boston Celtics. The Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks might get a look, too.
The Lakers' challenge is to become more appealing than all of the above.
Landing LeBron was a huge start. But what happens next could determine how realistic (if at all) this really is.
The simplest solution would be having young guys like Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and/or Josh Hart blossom into stars before Davis hits the open market. A more aggressive approach might see a couple packaged together for an established elite, leaving the door open for Davis to complete the Association's next Big Three.
Chances are this never comes to fruition. But seeing James in a Lakers jersey makes everything seem possible, doesn't it?
Statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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