Lakers Only View 4 Trades As ‘Realistic’ At This Point

The Los Angeles were expected to make big moves this summer. Names like “Klay Thompson” and “Jonas Valanciunas” were tossed around at one point, but both spurned L.A. in favor of better locales.

Similarly, Dejounte Murray, who the Lakers came very close to acquiring at the NBA Trade Deadline last year (before the move was ultimately vetoed by you-know-who), got moved to the New Orleans Pelicans.

There has also been some chatter regarding bringing Brook Lopez back to L.A., but what the Milwaukee Bucks are demanding of the Lakers in any potential trade is hefty.

Similarly, the four players that the front office is eyeing for the veteran minimum haven’t evoked a ton of enthusiasm from the fan base.

Understandably there is now a lot of disappointment regarding how things have gone thus far for Los Angeles and where they will go from here.

This week, Lakers insider Jovan Buha did a deep dive into what the team’s plans are going forward.

According to him, the team views four potential trades as realistic at this juncture.

“It’s tough to say what type of deal,” he said.

“As I’ve reported Jerami Grant, Kyle Kuzma, Cam Johnson, and Dorian Finney-Smith are the names that I’ve heard that are both available on the trade market, and the Lakers having conversations with those teams about those players.”

“If I had to guess… I look at the Lakers doing some type of 2 player vet minimum salary dump – Reddish, Wood are names I’ve heard… Jaxson Hayes I think is the guy that the Lakers would like to keep.

“Trading Wood/Reddish attaching second round pick for a team that has cap flexibility to take them on. You create roster spots/cap room. As for the bigger trades, I know the Lakers are being active and aggressive right now. It’s hard to say if one of those is going to happen.”

Notably absent from the Lakers’ four realistic trade options? A deal with the Utah Jazz for Lauri Markkanen. Why is that the case? Because the Golden State Warriors’ best offer for him is far superior to the one Los Angeles brings to the table.

Either way, the next few weeks promise to be interesting. The Lakers seem intent on trading away four players currently on the roster no matter what.

What they will get for those guys in return will ultimately dictate whether this offseason will ultimately be deemed a success or failure.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.