This Risky Lakers-Pelicans Trade Could Appease Both Sides

Both West playoff hopefuls could use a shakeup.

Your 17-16 Los Angeles Lakers have a big problem: their offense just can't get off the ground.

Part of this is because the team starts out already behind, thanks to the cramped floor spacing necessitated by head coach Darvin Ham's bizarre preferred starting lineup of All-NBA star LeBron James at the point, Taurean Prince at shooting guard, Cam Reddish at small forward, Jarred Vanderbilt at power forward, and possible Defensive Player of the Year contender Anthony Davis at center. Only two of those players, James and Prince, are above-average three-point shooters on volume (Davis is a 40% three-point shooter, but he's only taking a single attempt a game).

Tonight's opposition, the 18-14 New Orleans Pelicans, could cure what ails Los Angeles. 

Yes, it involves a re-trade.

While LA should want no part of health-challenged star power forward Zion Williamson (though he does have the highest upside on the club's current roster), there's another guy that, well, LA sure wanted a part of before: small forward Brandon Ingram, initially drafted by the Lakers with No. 2 pick in 2016.

Ingram is lengthy scorer who can create for himself and others and can be toggled between both forward spots with ease. This year, the one-time All-Star is averaging 23.2 points on .499/.333/.828 shooting splits, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 0.8 steals a night. That three-point mark is a bit underwhelming, yes, but one assumes Ingram will return to connecting on his career average of 36.1% on 3.7 triple tries a night. He's currently earning $33.4 million for New Orleans.

Combo guard Austin Reaves and his incredible $12 million salary this season make him every possible Lakers trade partner's top target, but he's obviously pretty highly-regarded by Los Angeles. The Lakers would probably be amenable to flipping one of their sharpshooting wings to make up for the positional loss, maybe starting swingman Taurean Prince's similarly valuable $4.4 million deal? Prince is a better defender than Ingram, but a far less willing scorer, who mostly operates off catch-and-shoot opportunities. 

LA would need to find a way to match rest of Ingram's theoretical incoming salary somewhere, and could do that either with Rui Hachimura's $15.7 million deal or D'Angelo Russell's $17.3 million contract.