The Los Angeles Lakers salvaged what looked like another dismal season with a series of midseason trades that suddenly made them a really good team.
But those moves were only good enough to take them to the Western Conference finals, where they were swept by the Denver Nuggets on Monday.
Los Angeles will have some personnel decisions to make this offseason, and the biggest will be what to do with guard D’Angelo Russell, one of three players acquired in the Russell Westbrook trade. Russell did very well in the regular season, but he was up and down in the first two rounds of the playoffs and downright bad against Denver.
He will be a free agent this summer, which has once again led to rumors the Lakers might try to pursue Kyrie Irving in a sign-and-trade for a package centered around Russell.
According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, there is another high-scoring star guard the team has at least talked internally about possibly pursuing: Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.
Via The Athletic:
“The Lakers have had internal discussions about what a hypothetical trade offer for Young could look like this summer, according to multiple league sources not authorized to speak publicly.”
Young is a very good player and can explode like few others. The problem is he’s a low-efficiency scorer. He shot just 42.9% overall and 33.5% 3-point range in the regular season. He’s hardly the scoring threat who would address L.A.’s lingering need for better outside shooting.
It should be noted that, like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Young is represented by Klutch Sports.
