Lakers Rumors: Recent Trade Chatter Connects Six-Time All-Star Guard To LA
Your Los Angeles Lakers do have plenty of point guards, but when the chips are down (assuming they make the postseason), can any of them be counted upon to deliver?
Six-time All-Star and 2019 world champ point guard Kyle Lowry, now with the Miami Heat, has been floated as a possible fit for LA, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
To be fair, Kyle Lowry is no longer peak Kyle Lowry. His All-Star days were all spent up north with the Toronto Raptors. Since taking his talents to South Beach, he's been increasingly deferential on offense, to a fault, and fitness issues have impeded his availability.
Los Angeles would need to feel that Lowry is substantially better than Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook at the point, and that there isn't some kind of amalgam of moves that could be made elsewhere on the roster, that could migrate LeBron James back to running point, where he proved so effective during LA's 2019-20 title run.
Zillgitt writes that Miami is "willing to shed Kyle Lowry’s contract, which pays him $29.6 million in 2023-24." Of course it is, he's overpaid.
A trade of Westbrook's expiring $47.1 million salary in exchange for Lowry's money ($28.3 million this year) and the contract of sharpshooting swingman Duncan Robinson ($16.9 million) would fit in principle, and would improve LA, but both those Heat players are inked to long-term deals. Would the LA front office consider this enough of an upgrade to be worth the cap hit into the future? Probably not. But would it make the team significantly better this season, adding two much better three-point shooters to the mix for a team that's pretty desperate in that department? Unquestionably yes.
This season, Lowry is averaging 12.6 points on .405/.335/.851 shooting splits, 5.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals a nice. But he's a career 36.7% three-point shooter on a high-volume 5.3 attempts (he's trying 6.2 long range takes this year), and can drain treys both off the dribble and on catch-and-shoot looks. With the ball in his hands less, one could expect his efficiency to improve a bit. Robinson is playing a much more limited role with Miami, but is a career 40.1% shooter from deep on 7.6 tries. This year, those numbers are down to 33.1% on five tries, although that's due in part to his inconsistent minutes on a Heat roster deep with wings (they still don't have an actual power forward for some reason).
