Lakers: All-Star LA Trade Target Reveals He Wears Jersey In Tribute To LA Legend
Your Los Angeles Lakers seem to be on the hunt for additional help beyond new forward Rui Hachimura, or so team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka claims. One potential target is two-time All-Star Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine, an idea that LaVine's fellow Zach, Zach Lowe of ESPN, supports.
During the Bulls' recent trip to Paris for a game against the Detroit Pistons, LaVine revealed the reason he wears his No. 8 jersey: Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bally Sports captured the comment:
"Why I wore No. 8 is 'cause my idol was Kobe Bryant. So looking up to him, I wanted to do everything he did. I obviously loved the number. I wore 14 in high school 'cause of my dad and then I wanted to I looked up to Kobe and Michael [Jordan], as a lot of kids growing up in the 90s did. I always tried to do everything [they] did mindset-wise."
Bryant, a 6'6" 18-time All-Star, of course played for the Lakers from 1996-2016, winning five titles and the 2008 MVP award.
LaVine may not make his third consecutive All-Star game this season (his teammate DeMar DeRozan, a Compton native, may be the only player on the 22-26 Bulls to make the trip to Utah this year), but that doesn't mean he isn't a terrific talent. Would Chicago ever settle for the best trade the Lakers could offer, something along the lines of Russell Westbrook's expiring contract, its two unprotected future first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2029, and maybe a few second-round selections.
At just 27, LaVine is still pretty close to his prime, though he hasn't looked quite the same this year coming off a knee surgery and playing through a finger injury. The UCLA product is certainly worth a gander for LA, but Chicago can probably get more future draft equity back elsewhere (the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks might make more sense from an asset-gathering perspective).
