The Los Angeles Lakers have some difficult choices to make regarding their backcourt this summer. Starting point guard D’Angelo Russell is expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent, and the team is reportedly looking for a major upgrade at guard.
Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are names that have been mentioned as trade targets for Los Angeles. But any of them will be expensive, and while the team will have three first-round draft picks available to trade on draft day, it doesn’t have a whole lot of attractive trade assets in terms of players.
The Lakers may therefore have to get creative in order to obtain a guard who can reduce LeBron James’ workload in terms of facilitating and scoring. There have been some rumors they may turn to Chris Paul, one of James’ closest friends in the NBA.
The veteran point guard may get released by the Golden State Warriors within the next few weeks, which would make him a free agent. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report called the Lakers, along with the Los Angeles Clippers, an “obvious choice” for Paul.
Via Bleacher Report:
“Assuming he’s cut, Paul could re-sign with the Warriors at the minimum, but he may move on. The Lakers and Clippers are the obvious choices, as Paul’s family still resides in Los Angeles. The chance to play with James and the Lakers may trump the Clippers, though Paul is undoubtedly familiar with the other L.A. team from his prior stint. He could consider the [Phoenix] Suns, who have a hole at point guard.
“The [San Antonio] Spurs could offer Paul a larger salary to run the pick-and-roll with [Victor] Wembanyama, but the L.A. teams probably make more sense unless San Antonio offers enough.”
There were rumblings that the Lakers were interested in Paul a year ago, but he was instead traded to Golden State.
Some fans of the Purple and Gold may be intrigued by the idea of adding Paul, a 12-time All-Star and surefire future Hall of Famer. But he is 39 years of age and not even close to the same player he was just three years ago.
His scoring average and overall field-goal percentage have fallen precipitously over the last two or three years, and he isn’t quite the defender he used to be.
Furthermore, the Lakers don’t have a good track record of bringing in aging stars at the end of their careers.
