Lakers: Would The Win-Now Kings Be Willing To Trade This Vet To LA?

Tonight's opponents, the Sacramento Kings, don't exactly seem like fertile trading partners for your Los Angeles Lakers. At 24-18, Sacramento is finally in a position to actually qualify for the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, and, as led by probable All-Star center Domantas Sabonis and possible All-Star point guard De'Aaron Fox, could conceivably even win a playoff round.

So would that team be willing to take a short-term step backward, if it meant it could acquire some incredibly valuable future draft equity?

Starting forward Harrison Barnes is the obvious trade fit from an LA perspective. Sacramento would most likely prefer to get back a win-now player, but I'm sure it would settle for at least one of LA's two future unprotected first-round draft picks, in 2027 or 2029.

Barnes's contract also matches up nicely with the expiring deals of underperforming Lakers guards Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn. As a veteran on an expiring contract, Barnes is also eligible for a contract extension, though as of this writing one has not been agreed upon with Sacramento. If the Kings are convinced that Barnes will walk in free agency no matter what, they may act to make sure he doesn't just leave for nothing.

Accordingly, were LA to trade for Barnes, the team would probably be doing so with the expectation that it would extend him.

Sacramento, which hasn't been to the postseason since 2006 (yes, not even a play-in game), is desperate to do so this year. So that's what makes this deal a bit tough to finagle. Would LA be willing to surrender a better player than Nunn? Obviously Lonnie Walker IV might be more valuable to the Lakers than most other teams, but maybe he would help incentivize a Barnes deal.

The fact that the Lakers could just sign Barnes in unrestricted free agency during the 2023 offseason also clouds things a bit. Is LA so desperate to make a postseason push that it would surrender major draft capital for a non-All-Star, when it knows it could just ink him to a new deal in the summer, as the contracts of Russell Westbrook, Beverley, Nunn and Walker all come off the team's books?

After a somewhat bumpy start to the 2022-23 campaign, Barnes, 30, has rounded into fighting form of late. He is averaging 15.2 points on .488/.366/.822 shooting splits, five rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game, all right in line with his career averages.