Lakers News: Reporter Proposes Insanely One-Sided Deal To Land All-Star In LA
The offseason has already started for your Los Angeles Lakers and it’s time for rumor season to really begin. After reaching the Western Conference Finals last season, the Lakers met their match in the Denver Nuggets, a team that had continuity and a team that was just better. Many around the team haven’t been shy to proclaim that the team intends to prioritize continuity of their own this offseason, bringing back much of the same roster that made the playoff run.
However, one player has taken a ton of criticism for his play in the conference finals against Denver and that’s D'Angelo Russell. Russell was awful against the Nuggets when it mattered most and his name has been subject to rumors galore. Hoopshall proposed a team that would send Russell and other pieces to Chicago for veteran forward DeMar DeRozan.
Now on the surface, the trade may look decent but when you break it down more, I’m not a huge fan. First off, DeRozan is due almost 30 million next season, which would take away from the teams ability to put more quality depth around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Additionally, DeRozan doesn’t do the one thing needed to play with the two stars, which is shoot three pointers at a high rate. He shot 32.4 percent from three last season, one of the higher marks of his career.
In this proposed scenario, you’d be giving up a guy in Russell who shot 41.4 percent from three and a guy who can play both on and off the ball. Now I understand that he wasn't great by any means against Denver but we can’t fault him for one four game sample size. Without Russell, the don’t make the Western Conference Finals. You would also be giving up a young player with major upside in Max Christie and a highly coveted draft pick in the top-20 of this year's loaded draft class.
All in all, DeRozan is a good player and he could fit with the Lakers but not for this trade package. The team would be giving up too many assets, especially with DeRozan being 33 and only having one more season left on his contract. If I were the Lakers, I’d pass on this if Chicago comes calling.
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