Lakers News: L.A. Pondering Patrick Beverley Trade
Our long not-quite-national nightmare may soon be over.
Veteran point guard Patrick Beverley, whose most memorable moment during his first (and hopefully only) season with your Los Angeles Lakers thus far happened during a stoppage in play, could be on the move soon, if recent scuttlebutt is to be believed.
Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, the Los Angeles front office is considering moving on from Beverley once most players signed as free agents in 2022 can be traded.
It's not so much the play of Beverley, which has been nothing to write home about, but rather the 34-year-old's expiring $13 million contract that could hold appeal to teams looking to tank and/or clear up some extra cap space for 2023 free agency. Buha notes that some rival clubs may still be hoping to extract value from the contracts of Beverley or another underwhelming Lakers veteran guard, Kendrick Nunn (who's making $5.3 million on an expiring deal of his own).
This writer suspects that L.A. will need to attach some kind of draft compensation to get off Beverley's contract. Through 14 games for the Lakers, Pat Bev is averaging a brutal 4.1 points with a slash line of .266/.238/.824, along with a respectable 3.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 0.9 steals.
A former 3-and-D specialist, Beverley has slipped to different degrees on both sides of the ball, although it's really the miserable scoring that has done anything but endear him to Lakers fans. His inability to space the floor for stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis isn't exactly mitigated by his defense along the perimeter, which remains above-average (head coach Darvin Ham stuck him on Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant for extended minutes recently) but no longer at the All-Defensive level.
Beverley is eligible to return to the hardwood for Los Angeles on Wednesday. Dennis Schröder started for three games while Beverley served his suspension for shoving Deandre Ayton in the back during that aforementioned stoppage in play, and is a far better scorer at this point in their respective careers. Who will get the nod now that everyone's available?
