3 Trade Ideas For The Lakers And Rockets Ahead Of Wednesday’s Game

With your Los Angeles Lakers striving to collect their first road win of the 2023-24 NBA season tonight against the Houston Rockets, we here at All Lakers are going to take a look at which players on their roster may be worth poaching for LA's.

A caveat: all three of these players literally cannot be traded right now, since they only signed on with Houston over the summer. But come December 15th, that all will change, although I'm curious about how the Rockets will look to operate during the season when they clearly made an effort to slightly overpay for veterans they could use to surround their raw young players.

1. Reggie Bullock

You thought I was going to say Dillon Brooks? I'm stunned that Bullock, who remains a useful 3-and-D wing, was available for a $3.1 million veteran's minimum deal this summer. The 32-year-old is barely playing on Ime Udoka's current Rockets squad, averaging just 0.8 points per game, but he was a useful role player on the Mavericks from 2021-23. With the Mavs, he averaged 7.8 points on .405/.370/.776 shooting splits, 3.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.7 steals a night. That player is probably still in there, and he's currently languishing as a fringe role player in Houston.

The one issue is, it's weirdly tough to trade for minimum-salaried players straight-up. And would he really be worth, say, some kind of protected second-round pick? Maybe. Let's see how LA's current wing depth shakes out and then make up our minds later this season. He's not going anywhere just yet. He might also just agitate to be waived so he can sign elsewhere later this season, should he continued to be underutilized in his current situation.

2. Fred VanVleet

I loved VanVleet as a potential upgrade over LA's 2022-23 end-of-season point guard core of D'Angelo Russell and Dennis Schröder (both of whom were free agents this summer, too), but I balked when I saw his sticker tag with the Houston Rockets. The 29-year-old, a fringe All-Star (he's made one total appearance thus far, while with the Toronto Raptors, in 2022) inked a three-year, $128.5 million deal with the club. It's a lot of money, but a shorter contract than it had to be. He's a better player than either D-Lo or Gabe Vincent, and better as a primary ball handler.

Given that LeBron James is already playing way too many minutes just seven games into the season, might it behoove the Lakers to add a playmaker who really can be trusted while LBJ is on the bench? The trade package that's been pitched for Kyrie Irving (the contracts of Russell, Rui Hachimura, perhaps Jalen Hood-Schifino and some kind of future draft equity) would make sense here. Is FVV enough of an upgrade to be worth a little bench depth? Potentially. He may not have the insane creativity on offense that makes Kyrie Irving so magnetic, but he's a better defender and has none of Irving's injury history or off-court baggage. This season with the 3-3 Rockets, he's averaging 16.7 points on .376/.385/.909 shooting splits (that field goal conversion rate is not what you want), 8.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.5 steals a night.

3. Jeff Green

Green was once a starter-by-necessity on Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James' 2018 NBA Finals Cleveland Cavaliers team, and though he's never hit the All-NBA heights projected for him when he was selected with the fifth pick in the 2007 NBA draft out of Georgetown (a heart issue also waylaid his progress during his prime), the hyper-athletic combo forward has been a solid multi-positional defender for several deep playoff runs all over the league, most recently winning his first title as the seventh man on the 2023 Denver Nuggets (and beating LA to do it). While his counting stats no longer leap off the page, the 37-year-old, inked to a two-year, $16 million agreement this summer, continues to be appreciated by all NBA dorks, both in front offices and on fan couches all across this great nation. It'd be fun to see James reunited with "Uncle Jeff," although LA is currently loaded with bench power forward types with a bit more spring in their steps. He may be worth exploring if other trades deplete that supply.

Are you following us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LA Sports Report yet? Join the conversation as we discuss the latest Lakers news and rumors with fans like you!