Lakers: Why LA May Want To Keep Calling Washington Even After Rui Hachimura Trade
Your Los Angeles Lakers finally got proactive about capitalizing on the incredible play of ageless wonder LeBron James today, by opting to move (minimal) future assets in service of improving this year's roster. Specifically, LA flipped the expiring contract of fringe rotation guard Kendrick Nunn and three second-round draft picks to Washington in exchange for young power forward Rui Hachimura, a catch-and-shoot three-point shooting specialist who should positively impact LA this season.
The Lakers also made another recent deal with this same Wizards front office (stewarded by team president Tommy Sheppard) in the summer of 2021 to trade good role players and a first-round draft pick for a decent role player being paid like an All-Star, Russell Westbrook.
LA shouldn't stop calling Sheppard and co. just yet. Upgrading from Nunn (who was one of several middling veteran guards in a crowded backcourt) to Hachimura (who fills an immediate need for the size- and shooting-challenged Lakers) is a huge step, but the Wizards have several other assets that LA might want... and might finally have realized that their current core may not even be good enough to get them into the play-in tournament this year.
The Wizards own a paltry 20-26 record this season, good for 12th in the Eastern Conference, and already have a 10-game losing streak under their belts through the midway point of the season.
Giving up on a young talent like Hachimura, a restricted free agent under team control this summer, for an inferior player and draft picks, feels like an indication that the Wizards may be aware that they're headed nowhere fast in 2022-23.
Now, Washington will be without probably its best player, 7'3" center Kristaps Porzingis, for at least the next two weeks as he deals with a left ankle sprain. 6'4" ex-All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal, another possible trade target for LA, has already missed 20 games this year. Starting power forward (and ex-Laker) Kyle Kuzma, yet another Lakers trade target, has been the team's most reliable high-scoring player, having appeared in 45 of 46 possible games, contributing well on both sides of the floor, and setting career-highs in points (21.8 per game on .457/.342/.696 shooting splits), assists (4.0), and three-pointers taken (7.5). He's also averaging 7.6 boards a night.
Will the Wizards actually have a fire sale? If they do, the Lakers do have two incredibly tantalizing future first-round draft picks, in 2027 and 2029, plus $60.1 million in expiring contract money of Westbrook and Patrick Beverley, to play with.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN views the Hachimura move, in part, as a sign that the Wiz are hopeful they can ink Kuzma to a veteran extension this year, or sign him again as an unrestricted free agent in the summer. If they re-think that, perhaps they'd be amenable to flipping him to LA in exchange for Beverley's $13 million salary and one of the two LA picks, unprotected.
Another option for LA: trading Westbrook's $47.1 million expiring contract for the combined money of Kuzma and Porzingis, a big injury-prone player who, when healthy, could be a great fit next to Anthony Davis. Would Washington demand both LA's first-rounders in such a deal? Absolutely. Would LA be open to shipping them out, provided the team was confident it could extend Kuzma? Perhaps.
Alternately, the Wizards could include another solid vet who could help LA if they're too married to Kuz: (in order of personal preference) small forward Will Barton, point guard Monte Morris, and defense-first combo guard Delon Wright could all be fits.
Then there's Beal, who last summer inked a five-year, $251 million maximum-salaried deal (gulp) to stay in Washington, became trade-eligible on January 15th. I think he's too much of a health risk and defensive liability to be quite worth his money, but he is a spectacular scorer, and perhaps could thrive as LA's third-best player, should Rob Pelinka bring in the right defensive-oriented pieces around him on small contracts.
Washington may not think surrendering Hachimura is going to have a huge adverse impact on their shot at a play-in game this year. But it should also realize that it's closer to bottoming out than truly contending, and moving on from some of its veteran players in the hopes of securing lottery luck could be its smartest next move.
