Lakerholics

Let’s start with the assumption the Los Angeles Lakers will need superstar Anthony Davis to remain healthy and have a career best season to have any chance at winning their league best 18th NBA championship this season. 

With Father Time limiting 38-year old LeBron James, the Lakers realize any future championships are going to need superstar Anthony Davis to make the proverbial next leap and take the baton as the best player on the planet. Darvin Ham, the Lakers’ new coach has said as much: “I would say he’s (AD) the biggest factor,” Ham said. “I’m looking forward to him having a huge year this year. I know the way we’re going to play is going to benefit him.” 

Ham’s strategy is to replicate the offensive and defensive schemes the Bucks used to win the 2022 NBA championship with Brook Lopez playing the five, Giannis Antetokounmpo at the four, and Khris Middleton playing the three. Right now the Lakers’ plan is to start Damian Jones or Thomas Bryant at the five, Anthony Davis at the four, and LeBron James at the three. The big weakness in the plan is that neither Jones or Bryant are Brook Lopez.

While the Lakers still hope to be able to trade for Kyrie Irving, there are strong arguments to be made that the smartest move Rob Pelinka could make right now would be to trade for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.

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1. Trading for Myles Turner Will Help Anthony Davis Stay Healthy

After winning the 2020 NBA championship in the bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers and their fans thought superstar Anthony Davis was on the verge of taking the baton from LeBron James as the best player on the planet.

Unfortunately, the last two seasons featured Davis and James both taking major steps backward with multiple injuries that limited the games they played with the team losing in a first round exit and missing the playoffs. While much blame for the last two seasons has to go to injuries, the Lakers front office also did a poor job constructing the roster around LeBron and AD, leading to their playing a position up against bigger players last season.

Last season, an undersized Lakers front court struggling to stay healthy, with Davis playing center 76% of the time but missing 42 games to injury while James played center 50% of the time while missing 26 games to injury. While it’s hard to pin Davis and James’ injuries to playing up a position, there’s no question the undersized Lakers lost any positional size advantage they once had and were destroyed on the boards and points in the paint.

The Lakers biggest weakness right now is not having a starting quality modern center who can fill the role Lopez filled for the Bucks. Trading for Myles Turner would go a long way to preserving Davis and James.

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2. Trading for Myles Turner Will Create Spacing for Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis’ dream is to play the three, where he can face up and use his point guard handle and quickness to beat his defender off the dribble and attack the paint for easy layups, dunks, floaters, and step-back jump shots.

The key to optimizing Anthony Davis’ skillset is making sure he is getting the ball where he has a clear advantage over his defender. The reality is he is better off playing in space as a stretch four than in the post as a five. Since the Lakers traded for Davis, they have failed to pair him with a modern center like Turner, who could not only create space for him with his 3-point shooting but also allow him to roam more as a help defender.

During the three seasons Davis has played for the Lakers, the only time he was paired with a stretch five center was in 2020–21 when he played 30 games and 471 minutes with Marc Gasol and posted an 11.1 net rating. Marc Gasol shot 41% on 2.3 3PA per game during that season. To compare, Myles Turner shot just 33.3% on 4.4 3PA per game while Damian Jones shot 34.5% on 0.5 3PA per game and Bryant shot 28.6% on 1.6 3PA per game.

Bottom line, neither Jones or Bryant have enough 3-point gravity to create needed spacing for Anthony Davis and LeBron James. If the Lakers want spacing for AD and LeBron, then they need to trade for Myles Turner.

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3. Trading for Myles Turner Will Give Lakers Elite Rim Protection

Turner has averaged 2.3 blocks and 0.7 steals per game over his seven seasons with the Indiana Pacers. He led the league in blocked shots the last two seasons, posting 2.8 blocks last season and 3.4 blocks the previous year.

When you combine Turner’s and Davis’ stats, they have 5.3 blocks per game last season and 5.0 blocks per game the previous season. No duo on the same team in modern pro basketball history has averaged over 5.0 blocks. The combination of Turner and Davis would enable the Lakers to put a lid on the basket when both were on the court and have elite rim protection for 48 minutes per game by making sure Turner or Davis was on the court.

While the value of centers in the NBA is at an all-time low because teams can play them off the floor by going small, the Lakers with Anthony Davis on the roster are the perfect NBA team to start Myles Turner at stretch five. The versatility of having Turner and Davis to anchor the defense would make the Lakers the toughest defensive team in the entire league, which is the key to the purple-and-gold winning their 18th NBA championship.

Myles Turner on the roster gives the Lakers the ability to play big or small with a lethal jumbo lineup to go with their deadly small-ball-on-steroids lineups with Anthony Davis at center that was dominant in the bubble.

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4. Trading for Myles Turner Lets Anthony Davis Be Wing Stopper

The biggest advantage of trading for Myles Turner to play center full-time would be freeing superstar Anthony Davis to become the Lakers’ lock down wing stopper on defense, filling the team’s need for a big wing defender.

There’s no question Anthony Davis can guard all five positions at all three levels of the court: in the post, in the midrange, and beyond the arc. Trading for Turner finally allows the Lakers to best utilize superstar Anthony Davis. With Turner playing the five, LeBron James and Anthony Davis can then play the three and four. The problem is the last thing the Lakers want is for 38-year old LeBron James to be chasing after wing scorers off of screens.

The smarter move is to have James and Davis swap positions. Let the younger Davis be the bigger wing defender the Lakers desperately need while allowing the older and slower LeBron to save energy at the four. Basically, trading for Turner enables the Lakers to move Davis to the three to take advantage of his elite 1-on-1 individual defense while keeping 38-year old LeBron James at the four to prevent more wear-and-tear.

Dedicating Anthony Davis to become the Lakers wing stopper would plug a major hole in the Lakers defensive strategy and would enable AD to make the leap to replace LeBron James as the Lakers #1 player and top superstar.

With the draft, free agency, and summer league in our rear view mirror, the Lakers’ Russell Westbrook trade strategy is finally unveiled: Plan A is Kyrie Irving and Joe Harris. Plan B is Buddy Hield and Myles Turner.

The good news is the Lakers apparently now have a viable backup trade partner in the Indiana Pacers willing to trade Buddy Hield and Myles Turner for Russell Westbrook and both of L.A.’s available first round picks. The Lakers have offered a package of picks including one first round pick. The Pacers have countered they want two first round picks and will reopen negotiations if the Lakers increase their offer to two first round picks.

Conjecture is the Lakers still prefer Kyrie and a shooter from the Nets over Buddy Hield and Myles Turner because championships are won by superstars and Kyrie is a superstar while Buddy and Myles are role players. They’re also going to need LeBron to sign the 2-year extension when he is eligible on August 4th. Trading for Kyrie would likely guarantee LeBron signs the extension. Who knows if he would sign for Hield and Turner.

Besides wanting a backup in case they cannot complete a Westbrook for Irving trade with the Nets, the Lakers want to create leverage with the Nets by letting Brooklyn know they may lose their only Irving trade partner. Obviously, the big question right now is how long should the Lakers be willing to wait for the Nets to finally agree to trade Kyrie Irving and either Joe Harris or Seth Curry to the Lakers for Westbrook and Horton-Tucker.

August 4th could be a key date as that’s when James and the Lakers can open negotiations on a possible 2-year extension. Right now, James and the Lakers can’t discuss or negotiate the extension or be guilty of tampering. Once James and the Lakers can legally discuss his extension, they can determine whether to continue to wait for a Kyrie Irving trade or take the bird in hand and close the deal with the Pacers for Hield and Turner.

Still unknown is whether the Lakers will be willing to trade both of their available draft picks. Right now, Jeanie Buss has said they will only do that for a deal that returns them to championship caliber, like trading for Kyrie. When you weigh all of the pluses and minuses, you can make a good case that trading for Hield and Turner could ultimately be a smarter move both in the long and short term for Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the end, this is LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, which means shooting for the moon and waiting as long as it takes to get Kyrie Irving, and not settling for second best until there is no chance of getting him.

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Dr. Jerry Buss, who built the Los Angeles Lakers into one of the most successful sports franchises in the world must be rolling over in his grave watching daughter Jeanie forget what made the team worth over $5 billion.

What made Jerry special was he understood pro basketball at its best was simply entertainment and the main key to the business succeeding was to build teams with the star power to attract fans and win championships. The 17 championship banners and 11 retired jerseys of former Laker stars like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant hanging in the rafters are why the Lakers are worth over $5 billion.

While Jerry Buss was often a reckless gambler, he always knew winning solves everything in professional sports so he never allowed himself or the Laker to become complacent or less aggressive. Winning was the only goal. Unfortunately, Jeanie seems to have forgotten that lesson as reports now say the Lakers at this time are unwilling to sign free agents or take back contracts in trades longer than the one year left on LeBron’s contract.

Trying to execute a complete offseason rebuilding of the Lakers roster is challenging enough without having to do with your hands tied behind your back and your feet hogtied. Jeanie Buss must see the forest instead of trees. Investing in the present is investing in the future when it comes to LeBron or any other NBA superstar. LeBron is here today in many ways because of how Jeanie treated Kobe, which is exactly how she should treat LeBron.

Unless the Lakers dysfunction is an inspired scam designed to befuddle competitors and create illusive leverage, the Lakers and LeBron James are now at a standoff that’s paralyzed the franchise during a critical offseason. James’ camp seems to be saying show us you can build a championship team and we’ll sign the extension. The Lakers appear to be replying sign the extension and we’ll then go all-in to build a win-now championship roster.

Who’s right and who’s wrong is not as important as the right outcome, which is LeBron James signing the 2-year extension on August 4th and the Lakers then making the long-term sacrifices to win now with LeBron.

Despite herculean efforts to find a path where Westbrook would work, the wheels of that bus are now spinning wildly out of control and threatening to derail any hopes of Russ and Lakers running it back for a second year.

While Russ has not formally requested a trade from the Lakers, he fired his longtime agent Thad Foucher over ‘irreconcilable differences’ for not agreeing with what appears to be his decision to finally request a trade. Foucher took the unusual step of going public about why he no longer will represent Russell Westbrook, recommending Russ “stay with the Lakers, embrace the starting role and support that Darvin Ham publicly offered.”

Obviously, Russ is not happy with the constant news on the Internet that LeBron and the Lakers are actively trying to trade him for Kyrie Irving, including teams demanding an unprotected first round pick to dump him. Despite praise and support from new Lakers’ coach Darvin Ham, Westbrook clearly has no interest in changing how he plays at this point and becoming “a pit bull on defense” and “guarding at a championship level.”

With Russ apparently now ready to demand a trade, the fantasy that the Lakers and Darvin Ham would somehow keep and convince Russ to change his spots, sacrifice his stats, and embrace being an elite defender is dead. 

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How Does Russ Demanding Trade Affect Lakers’ Pursuit of Kyrie?

Anyone watching James and Westbrook consciously avoiding each other at the Las Vegas Summer League last week fully understands that Russell Westbrook is done with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Forget Russ suddenly realizing he needs to change how he plays the game if he wants to enjoy success over the remaining years in his career. Despite an honest and sincere effort by Darvin Ham, Russ is too prideful to change. He’d rather ignore warning signs and blame the disappointing last season on Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel not utilizing him properly and LeBron James and Anthony Davis not sacrificing or being able to remain healthy.

Needless to say, Russ responding in this fashion will eliminate any possible return as an active member of the rotation next season, which means the Lakers now must either find a trading partner or waive-and-stretch him. Like it or not, Russ is one of those superstar players a team does not want sitting on the bench if unhappy or disgruntled. The Lakers now know for sure that Russell Westbrook cannot be on their roster next season.

The Lakers can no longer keep alive the fantasy that Westbrook could be a productive part of the team for next season, which means they need to move quickly and decisively to trade him for Kyrie Irving whatever the cost.

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What’s Most Lakers Can Give Up in Westbrook for Irving Trade?

Russell Westbrook and Talen Horton-Tucker are two players whom are poor fits next to superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis and should be traded this offseason for three legitimate rotation players who are good fits.

Assuming the Lakers do not want to increase annual salaries or take back contracts longer than 1-year, this trade that includes two unprotected picks should be the Lakers best offer to the Nets for a Westbrook for Irving trade. 

This is the most likely trade since Jeanie Buss does not want to pay more in salaries or incur more in luxury taxes than they did last season when they missed the playoffs but still had the fourth highest payroll and tax total.

Assuming the Lakers were willing to increase annual salaries and take back contracts longer than 1-year to upgrade the shooters being acquired along with Kyrie, this should be the Lakers best offer for a Russ for Kyrie trade.

Harris and McDermott both can play the three in addition to the two and McDermott has even excelled as a stretch four last season. They’re a major upgrade over Curry and Richardson and can be easily moved if needed.

The Lakers dump Russ, THT, and their 2027 and 2029 first round picks and get back three dead-eye guards who shoot over 40% from deep, including Irving who won an NBA championship in Cleveland with LeBron in 2016.

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The Los Angeles Lakers seem focused on trading Russell Westbrook to the Brooklyn Nets for Kyrie Irving and committing the franchise to a second straight season where most of their salary cap went to three superstars.

With the Nets paralyzed over what to do with Kevin Durant, progress on a Westbrook for Irving trade has stalled, which could be the perfect time for the Lakers to pause and consider whether trading for Kyrie is the best path. While there’s a logic and symmetry to the Lakers and Nets swapping problem superstars, committing all of your salary cap to three players makes it difficult to build a championship roster around your superstars.

The Nets’ implosion opened a door to a seemingly impossible gift from the basketball gods, a chance to dump Russell Westbrook and receive in return superstar point guard Kyrie Irving and elite shooting guard Joe Harris. Frankly, the Lakers and LeBron were so excited about the chance to swap Russ for two legitimate starters, including a superstar and an elite 3-point shooter that they may not have thoroughly considered their other options.

So let’s compare the Lakers’ rotations if they traded Westbrook, Horton-Tucker, and two unprotected first round picks for Kyrie Irving and Joe Harris or Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, T.J. McConnell, and Patrick Beverley.

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1. Trade for Irving and Harris

The above trade sends Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, and the Lakers 2027 and 2029 unprotected first round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for superstar point guard Kyrie Irving and elite two guard Joe Harris.

Irving would immediately become the Lakers’ starting point guard and the team’s lead scorer and playmaker, while Harris would become the starting shooting guard and needed high volume, high percentage 3-point shooter. While Irving, Harris, James, and Davis is a great foursome, the starting center position would be between two young unproven centers, with 27-year old Damian Jones likely beating out 24-year old Thomas Bryant.

That would give the Lakers a starting five of Irving, Harris, James, Davis, and Jones with backups of Nunn, Reaves, Brown Jr, Johnson, and Bryant and reserves of Christie, Walker IV, Toscano-Anderson, and Gabriel.

Is that a championship starting lineup and rotation? Assuming James, Davis, and Irving all are healthy and Kyrie is on his best contract year behavior, the Lakers should be able to compete for a championship again. The biggest question marks with this superstar laden roster is whether Jones and Bryant can provide the 3-point gravity to help the team’s spacing or the shot blocking and rim protection to anchor the team’s defense.

Point guard and center are where Darvin Ham wants the Lakers’ best two defenders. They’re also key positions for spacing on offense. The problem is Kyrie Irving and Damian Jones are not Jrue Holiday or Brook Lopez. 

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2. Trades for Turner, Hield, McConnell, and Beverley

The first trade sends Westbrook and the Lakers’ 2027 and 2029 unprotected first round draft picks to the Pacers for Turner, Hield, and McConnell. The second trade sends Horton-Tucker and Gabriel to the Jazz for Beverley.

Turner would immediately become the Lakers’ starting stretch five center, Hield the starting shooting guard and volume 3-point shooter, Beverley the starting point guard and lead defender, and McConnell backup point guard. What makes this starting lineup and rotation better than one with Irving and Harris is having elite defenders in Patrick Beverley and Myles Turner manning the critical point guard and center positions in Ham’s defense.

That would give Lakers a starting five of Beverley, Hield, James, Davis, and Turner with backups of McConnell, Reaves, Brown Jr, Johnson, and Jones and reserves of Nunn, Christie, Walker IV, Toscano-Anderson, and Bryant.

Is this a championship starting lineup and rotation? While it lacks three superstars, it has Beverley at point guard and Turner at stretch center, both of whom can fill the key two-way roles of Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez. What we’re seeing is the same challenge the team faced last season, which is having to make a philosophical decision whether three superstars or two superstars with a more talented starting lineup and more depth on bench.

The Lakers need to stop chasing players because of their name and instead focus on adding players to the team whose offensive and defensive skillsets better complement and unleash LeBron James and Anthony Davis.