Lakers Rumors: Anthony Davis Waives Kicker in Amended Trade; LA Opens Max Slot

The Los Angeles Lakers agreed to trade Moe Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to the Washington Wizards on Thursday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, in a move that is being combined with the Anthony Davis trade that will be made official on July 6.

Additionally, Davis will waive his trade kicker, clearing additional cap space for the Lakers:

The Lakers are also sending a 2022 second-round pick to the Wizards, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

The move will allow the Lakers to chase a third star like Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler or Kemba Walker to join forces with LeBron James and Davis. 

Considering the Lakers have only James, Davis and Kyle Kuzma currently under contract, the Lakers could also use that cap space to chase several second-tier free agents or intriguing role players such as Bojan Bogdanovic or Patrick Beverley. 

As for the Wizards, the 22-year-old Wagner is the headlining piece. He appeared in 43 games for the Lakers as a rookie, starting five, and averaged 4.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per game. 

Should Wagner get a chance to expand his role with the Wizards, he'll need to improve his defense and three-point shooting. Per Wojnarowski, the Wizards will give him a shot to do so:

Coming out of Michigan, a selling point for Wagner was his 38.5 career shooting percentage from deep as a 7-footer. However, he sank only 28.6 percent of his threes as a rookie with the Lakers.

According to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, Wagner's minus-9.1 net rating was last on the 2018-19 Lakers.

Wagner needs to improve at least one of those aspects of his game to factor into Washington's long-term plans. But it was a logical roll of the dice for the Wizards, who gave up only cash in return, according to Candace Buckner of the Washington Post.