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The Los Angeles Lakers have played well to open the season, sitting at 3-0. Their early success could be what the Lakers front office needs to make a trade, as they look good enough to compete for a championship.
Colin Keane of The Sporting News proposed an interesting trade recently. His pitch would move a combination of Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood, and Jarred Vanderbilt to the Indiana Pacers for Bennedict Mathurin. Keane added that the Lakers could add draft capital to entice the Pacers.
“The Pacers have to love that Mathurin is back healthy. However, their success last year without Mathurin makes Indiana more willing than expected to trade him for a valuable return if the right offer comes along,” Keane wrote on October 26. “The Los Angeles Lakers would certainly be interested in Mathurin given their desire to add another guard or wing scorer.
“Indiana might be interested in a package from the Lakers that provides them with some much-needed frontline depth (some combination of Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood, and Jarred Vanderbilt would suffice), and if Los Angeles was willing to sweeten the deal with draft capital, the Pacers would definitely consider. Mathurin would be a plug-and-play guy for the Lakers who could come off the bench and offer instant offense. He’s in the penultimate year of his four-year, $30 million rookie contract.”
Why Trading for Mathurin Might Not Happen
Mathurin has proven to be a potential high-level player for the Indiana Pacers one day. As a rookie two seasons ago, he averaged 16.7 points per game and followed that up by averaging 14.5 points while shooting 37.4% from 3-point range on 3.6 attempts per game in his sophomore campaign.
While the idea of trading for Mathurin is intriguing, the Pacers might not be willing to move him to the Los Angeles Lakers or any other team.
The Lakers have also been interested in a center, so moving any frontcourt players for a 6-foot-6 guard wouldn’t help.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic had the latest on the Lakers’ interest in Walker Kessler, who would give them good minutes as a starting center next to Anthony Davis.
“I think Walker Kessler is a name that the Lakers have been interested in that I think would make a lot of sense and would allow you to either start a two-big look. Or – probably more realistically – bring him off the bench and then play two-big shifts,” Buha said on October 25.
“And then in certain matchups, close with two bigs; him and AD, obviously.”
Other Lakers Trade Ideas
If the Los Angeles Lakers make a trade in the coming weeks, the front office will have to make some tough decisions.
According to Buha, if they were to make a trade, he expects that the “plan” is to move D’Angelo Russell.
“I think it’s too early to — I don’t wanna overreact to this game in any direction,” Buha said on October 23. “I think if anything, this game was just a confirmation of a lot of what we already knew and saw. So, I would assume that the plan is still to at least explore the D-Lo situation down the road.
“But I don’t know if his game necessarily swayed it really in either direction. I think it’s always kind of been if they’re gonna make a trade, he’s the one guy.”
If the Lakers were to make Russell, they could be interested in Mathurin. While he isn’t a point guard, the 22-year-old could fill in at the two and give them extra guard depth.
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