The Los Angeles Lakers will have to find ways to improve their roster after missing out on Klay Thompson and others in the early stages of free agency. With trade assets to improve their roster, Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report found a deal that’d do just that.
He proposed a deal that’d send three important assets for Bruce Brown of the Toronto Raptors. Buckley’s proposal would move D’Angelo Russell and more.
Lakers would get: Brown
Raptors would get: Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2025 second-round pick via LAC
“The Raptors need someone to see Brown as their dot-connecting missing piece, and maybe the Lakers would seek out this kind of shake-up,” Buckley wrote on July 10. “They’ve never seemed fully comfortable with Russell, they hardly played Hood-Schifino as a rookie and they can’t be too closely committed to that second-rounder.
“Toronto, though, might sense Hood-Schifino has a chance to thrive in a more patient, development-focused environment than L.A. It also wouldn’t scoff at picking up another second-rounder, even if it probably won’t be a great one. As for Russell, he’d help perk up the scoring and shooting, but really, he’d probably just slide into Brown’s spot as a serviceable veteran waiting for a win-now shopper to make its move for him.”
Lakers Don’t Want to Move First-Round Pick for Brown
According to Anthony Irwin of Lakers Lounge, the Los Angeles Lakers seem to have trouble finding trade partners.
Irwin said on July 3 that the Lakers have called about Brown, but the Toronto Raptors want a first-round pick, which he doesn’t believe the Lakers want to move.
“I’ve heard that they’ve put in a call to Toronto about Bruce Brown,” Irwin stated. “Same issue that you run into, though. They want a first-round pick for Bruce Brown and I don’t think the Lakers want to give up a first-round pick for Bruce Brown.
“Put X name out there and either that team wants Austin Reaves, which is a non-starter with the Lakers, or they want a first-round pick and the Lakers are really holding on to that first-round pick.”
If the hold-up is a first-round pick, the Lakers could get a third team involved to take on Russell and have them send a first-round pick to the Raptors.
Brown Would Help the Lakers’ Defense and 3-Point Shooting
The Los Angeles Lakers are lacking a 3-and-D wing on their roster, especially one that can do what Brown does.
Brown was a big piece to the Denver Nuggets championship run in 2023, shooting 35.8% from 3-point range on 3.2 attempts per game.
His numbers were a bit down in terms of 3-point shooting this past year, but that could’ve been due to playing in 34 games with a Toronto Raptors offense that struggled. If he was around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, similar to how he was with Nikola Jokic, he could find himself open much more than he was last season.
The Lakers would have to hope that Brown would return to form from 3-point range, as he’s proven to be a capable 3-point shooter. If he could, with his ability to be the primary defender on other teams’ best players, the Lakers would have a 27-year-old wing that could do plenty for them.
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