Lakers trade targets: 20 possible players for Rob Pelinka to consider acquiring this offseason

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Rob Pelinka has made it clear that he wants to keep the core of the Los Angeles Lakers together this offseason. Doing so will mean hefty expenditures in free agency. Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura will be priorities in free agency assuming the Lakers don’t decide to create cap space for an external target, and as poorly as he finished the season, D’Angelo Russell could easily be back as well. Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Schroder will be harder to retain, but if there are realistic paths to re-signing them, the Lakers will attempt to do so.

Keeping those free agents is sensible. They are mostly young and coming off of a trip to the Western Conference finals. But the Lakers got swept by the Nuggets once they got there, and with LeBron James only getting older, it’s fair to suggest that the Laker roster, as currently constituted, is not ready to win a championship. They will need to make a meaningful addition or two outside of the players that just lost to Denver, and if their free agency dollars are spent on retention, their only path to significant improvement will be on the trade market.

The Lakers are far more flexible on that front this summer than they have been in years past, and they can thank the moves Pelinka made at the deadline for that. He used the expiring contracts of Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley to acquire two players on non-guaranteed salaries—Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba—that combine to give the Lakers nearly $27 million in matching salaries this offseason. Pelinka gave away their 2027 first-round pick in the Westbrook deal… but he didn’t give it protections that last multiple seasons. That means that regardless of what happens in 2027, the Lakers still have access to their 2029 selection as a trade chip. Couple that with the No. 17 overall pick they still have in this year’s draft and the Lakers suddenly have the means to create a fairly compelling trade package.

Pelinka would surely prefer to use that package to land a star. Two first-round picks and a couple of expiring salaries won’t get them there unless…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-trade-targets-20-possible-players-for-rob-pelinka-to-consider-acquiring-this-offseason/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2023-05-30 21:31:42

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