Lakers News: Shams Charania Dishes On L.A.'s Quest For Shooting Help

Detroit Pistons power forward Bojan Bogdanovic has long been a person of interest for your Los Angeles Lakers. The 33-year-old was allegedly in the Lakers' crosshairs this summer as a possible centerpiece for a deal when he was still on the Utah Jazz, with whom L.A. had traded to acquire Patrick Beverley in the Talen Horton-Tucker deal, a rare trade that nobody appears to have won.

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, that remains the case for L.A., as the team looks to bolster its size and shooting depth.

The 6'7" Bogdanovic would address both those needs for the 11-15 Lakers, who just saw firsthand what the vet can contribute in a surprisingly close game against his Pistons Sunday, which L.A. ultimately won 124-117. Bogdanovic poured in a game-most 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the floor (including 6-of-12 shooting from deep), plus four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

Across his first 28 games with the Pistons, all starts, Bogdanovic is averaging 21 points at a nearly 50/40/90 level clip (.508/.437/.891 shooting splits, to be precise), along with 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

Marc Stein reports that the Pistons would want at least one fully unprotected future first-round pick from the Lakers in a trade, though most recently L.A. offered a future first with some level of protections (e.g. a pick could be top-four protected, top-ten protected, etc.).

A deal of the combined salaries of Beverley and Kendrick Nunn ($18.3 million) for Bogdanovic and his $19.6 million contract this season seems to make the most sense.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, they may have to get into a bidding war should they want to secure Bogdanovic's services. Charania reports that "roughly a dozen teams" have pitched themselves to Detroit, using future draft equity as the big carrot. Sources tell Charania that Detroit has enjoyed what the recently-extended forward has brought to the table both in terms of his on-court contributions and his role as a leader, and may be open to keeping him around longer-term.

Charania adds that the L.A. front office is also pondering deals for two New York Knicks, forward Cam Reddish and shooting guard Evan Fournier, both of whom are now on the fringes of the New York rotation.