The Los Angeles Lakers are apparently hoping to acquire Trey Murphy from the New Orleans Pelicans this summer. New Orleans traded multiple players at this year’s deadline, but they decided to retain the popular wing player for the rest of the season. A poor season coming while they don’t own their upcoming draft pick could see bigger changes for the franchise this upcoming offseason.
Lake Show Life’s Svyatoslav Rovenchuk reported the following:
“Selling the idea of Murphy being a terrific addition to the Lakers is not difficult. The Pelicans wing can perfectly slide in for pretty much any team in the NBA. Even so, he’d be a particularly attractive addition for Los Angeles.
The Lakers have craved shooting all year. Murphy is shooting 37.8 percent from beyond the arc this season and is a career 38.2 percent marksman overall. You can probably hear Luka Doncic screaming ‘yes please’ off in the distance somewhere.”
Murphy would solve multiple issues for the flawed Lakers roster. Both his shooting skills on offense and solid defense will make up for the Lakers badly lacking both of those things. Luka Doncic needs players who can hit open three pointers and defend opposing stars on his team. Murphy could be a future Laker to team up with Doncic moving forward.
Murphy Could Reunite With Former Coach
The Lakers recently announced the hiring of Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft advisor. Bennett is a former college basketball coach of almost two decades to help develop multiple NBA players. Bennett coached Murphy during his college career at the University of Virginia and played a role in him succeeding enough to get drafted.
Despite being hired for a front office role, Bennett would be around to work more with Murphy and reunite from their past success together. NBA teams often benefit from adding connections to players in front office or coaching roles and improving their chances of landing their desires talents.
The Pelicans will have to trade Murphy or Zion Williamson to shake up the roster and realistically get talent back. Murphy holding connections to the Lakers’ new advisor and having strengths that would mask the team’s flaws makes him a perfect choice.
Could Lakers Realistically Trade For Murphy?
Unfortunately, the Lakers hold minimal future assets to tempt teams on the trade market. One positive for a Murphy trade is the Lakers holding multiple distant first-round draft picks in the 2030s that could be valuable to a rebuilding franchise like New Orleans.
A three-team trade is likely needed for salary cap rules and for the Pelicans to get a worthwhile player. The Lakers would have to hope New Orleans or other teams settle for names like Dalton Knecht and Rui Hachimura as their best talents they can trade.
Murphy is a dream target, but the Lakers will be quite active even if he’s not on the trade market this summer. Cap space and more opportunities to upgrade the roster behind Doncic means the time is now for General Manager Rob Pelinka to take some risks on talents with upside.
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