Lakers: How Los Angeles Could Land Myles Turner in a Trade
The Lakers are going to be moving some pieces around within the next few weeks. With the February trade deadline on the horizon, Rob Pelinka and his team are no doubt looking to better support LeBron James and get a few reinforcements.
And while the expectation is that the Lakers will be heavily involved in the buy-out market, there are trade rumors circulating. One that popped up over the last week involved Pacers big man Myles Turner. Shams Charania noted that Los Angeles was interested in him and Indiana is looking to move him before the deadline.
But with the current state of their roster and cap situation, how could the Lakers actually pull this off?
Turner is under contract for one more year after this season. He counts for $18 million against the cap, which would be very difficult for the Lakers to overcome. Trading away Talen Horton-Tucker would almost certainly have to be one of the options given his $9.5 million cap hit.
The Lakers have also been interested in moving Kendrick Nunn, a guy that would relieve $5 million from their cap. But it would take more than those two guys to get a deal done. Trading away the 2027 first-round pick would no doubt have to be part of any deal, and that's the earliest one that they have.
That's a big ask for a team that doesn't necessarily NEED a center like Turner. But his elite rim protection and ability to stretch the floor should no doubt be appealing to the Lakers right now.
Turner is averaging close to 3 blocks per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field. Should the Lakers look for a defensive type of wing? Probably. But Turner wouldn't be an awful fallback plan.
