Klutch Sports, the agency that represents LeBron James, is reportedly pushing the Los Angeles Lakers to trade for the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ De’Andre Hunter or Charlotte Hornets’ Miles Bridges in a deal involving veteran forward Rui Hachimura, ahead of the Feb. NBA trade deadline.
While Bridges is represented by the Rich Paul-owned Klutch, Hunter is a client of the Wasserman Basketball agency. Hachimura left Klutch in 2023 to join Wasserman.
“I never know what to make of it when I hear that a Klutch guy wants out because they always seem to want out… until Klutch no longer represents them,” insider Matt Moore wrote in his Hardwood Paroxysm Substack, highlighting the players’ ties to Klutch.
“But league sources have said the super agency has expressed interest in a Klutch-for-Klutch swap of De’Andre Hunter for Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent to the Lakers or to Charlotte for Miles Bridges.”
De’Andre Hunter Wants Out: Report
Moore further noted that Hunter, who arrived in Cleveland to much hype from the Atlanta Hawks at last year’s NBA trade deadline, wants out of his situation.
“Among the things I tend to squint skeptically at is when someone says ‘that guy wants out bad.’ NBA players do tend to have pretty good perspective that they make tens of millions to play basketball and that their worst situation is still pretty good.
“But there’s a lot of smoke around the idea that De’Andre Hunter, or at least his representation, would prefer he be somewhere else.”
Hunter, who was once viewed as one of the NBA’s elite 3-and-D wings, is in the middle of an extremely disappointing season for the Cavaliers. The 28-year-old is averaging 13.9 points and 4.3 rebounds on a career-low 30% shooting from three.
Amid his ongoing slump, the Cavs have reportedly received several trade calls for Hunter, but they’ve shut them all down, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Lakers Trade Deadline Heats Up
The Lakers would obviously love to acquire Hunter, who’d be an upgrade over Hachimura despite his ongoing shooting slump. However, ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel noted Monday that Hachimura has little trade value around the league.
“…There isn’t a market for virtually any of their players, including Rui Hachimura on an expiring $18.2 million contract,” Siegel reported on Dec. 12. “With limited options out there, the only way to move some of their contracts, both expiring and non-expiring, would be attaching draft picks, which Los Angeles doesn’t have many of.”
Some of the known Lakers trade targets include Herbert Jones, Andrew Wiggins, Keon Ellis and Daniel Gafford. However, the pathway for the Lakers to acquire any of them is quickly fading, per multiple insiders, due to their reluctance to trade their only first-round pick. The Lakers reportedly prefer to arm themselves with three first-rounders over the summer so they can pursue a bigger name.
The Lakers desperately need both shooting and defense by the NBA trade deadline. JJ Redick’s team ranks dead-last in the league in 3P% and 26th in defensive rating. It’s somewhat of a miracle that they have a 23-14 record despite all their issues.
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