Lakers Rumors: LA Still Talking To Spurs About Potential Trades
Your Los Angeles Lakers may have already upgraded their roster with an in-season trade, but they still have several assets left to burn, should they elect to do so.
The addition of power forward Rui Hachimura, an athletic catch-and-shoot option beyond the arc with some intriguing (but as yet untapped) defensive upside, should be an immediate upgrade for LA over the relatively useless corpse of Kendrick Nunn.
Thanks to the New Orleans Pelicans' current six-game losing streak while Zion Williamson continues to sit with his latest annual injury, the fourth seed in the Western Conference is now up for grabs. Even though the Lakers are currently the 13th seed in the conference with a 23-26 record, only three games separate them from the 26-23 Pellies.
Some additional roster help courtesy of another front office move could be all it takes to vault LA up the conference standings.
With that in mind, it makes sense that the Lakers are reportedly still having discussions about a potential Russell Westbrook trade with the openly rebuilding San Antonio Spurs, according to LJ Ellis of Spurs Talk. Rumblings of a deal that would ship the 2017 MVP's now-bloated $47.1 million expiring salary to San Antonio, along with some level of future draft equity, have been in the air since the 2022 offseason.
LA is apparently intrigued by Spurs vets Josh Richardson and Doug McDermott, two excellent volume three-point shooters, as well as San Antonio center Jakob Poeltl, a defensive stalwart who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. A deal to send Russ to the Spurs for those three veterans' combined money would work monetarily speaking, the real question is just how many draft picks, and what kinds of protections on those picks, LA would be comfortable negotiating. Time will tell.
Adding Poeltl would enable Anthony Davis to play more frequently at his preferred position of power forward, and perhaps could preserve AD's body a bit more by keeping him out of the post. Given that he can no longer make a shot outside of the painted area, however, it does appear that Davis's best position may be center these days. It may still be worth making the move and seeing how everything shakes off, but a smaller deal that would ship out Patrick Beverley's $13 million expiring deal and a lottery-protected pick for McDermott, or Beverley's money and a second-rounder for Richardson, would also greatly behoove the Lakers from a spacing and roster balance perspective.
