Hours after D’Angelo Russell exercised his player option to return to the Lakers, reports have emerged that the team is looking towards an opt-in and trade scenario—a far cry from Russell’s priority to win a championship in LA.
According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, the Lakers are now aggressively pursuing “Russell-centric trades,” adding:
“Internally within the Lakers, there is a sense that there is a clear ceiling to an Austin Reaves-D’Angelo Russell backcourt pairing. Reaves is younger, better defensively, a superior playoff performer and is on a team-friendly multi-year contract.”
Lakers Trade Rumors: Team Could Split Up Starting Backcourt
Russell-Reaves Backcourt History
At times, pairing Russell with budding star Austin Reaves made perfect sense. Both players could score and facilitate well, complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis to a tee, and often executed when it mattered the most.
This season, the team’s most commonly used lineup featured LA’s two stars, Russell, Reaves and Rui Hachimura—a combination that took former head coach Darvin Ham until January to figure out. In 389 total minutes and across 25 games (24 as starters), the group logged an offensive rating of 116 and a defensive rating of 110.5 for a net rating of 5.5. As starters, they finished the regular season with a 18-6 record. Aside from James and Davis, Russell and Reaves were integral contributors to that particular lineup’s success.
As a duo, the two guards finished the regular season with a net rating of -0.4 (115.7 offensive, 116 defensive). In the playoffs, those numbers were surprisingly better—a 118 offensive rating and a 109.9 defensive rating for a net rating of 8.0. However, it’s worth noting that Reaves was the more efficient scorer of the two, racking up 16.8 points per game to Russell’s 14.2 and on higher field goal percentage (47.6% to D’Lo’s 38.4%).
Lakers Moving Russell: Potential Targets
Between the two, it’s understandable why LA would rather keep Reaves over Russell. They’ve maintained their stance from the trade deadline, when they engaged in trade talks around Russell while refusing to give up Reaves. Heading into free agency—and armed with demands from their two stars to improve—moving on from D’Lo may be their best case scenario. The question—especially after Dejounte Murray was dealt to the Pelicans—becomes who they would move him for.
Per Buha, Russell’s expiring $18.7 million salary is now “one of Los Angeles’ more valuable trade assets, particularly for salary-matching purposes.” He also detailed the types of players the Lakers could target in their pursuit of Russell-centered trades:
“Wings such as Portland’s Jerami Grant, former Lakers player Kyle Kuzma and the Nets’ duo of Dorian Finney-Smith and Cam Johnson are expected to be available on the trade market, according to league sources. They aren’t the biggest needle-movers, but any of those four players would enhance the Lakers’ perimeter defense, frontcourt size and/or floor spacing.”
The Nets, who are officially in rebuild mode, are arguably the most intriguing trade partner for the Lakers. LA has been eyeing Dorian Finney-Smith for a while, and Cam Johnson is the prototypical 3-and-D wing that would suit the Lakers’ needs. A reunion with Kyle Kuzma could also be ideal. Jerami Grant, another longtime LA target, may also be feasible if it weren’t for the behemoth of a five-year contract he inked last summer. The Lakers’ recent link to Collin Sexton could make things even more interesting. In 78 games (51 starts), the 6’1” guard averaged 18.7 points, 4.9 assists and 2.6 rebounds on .487/.394/.859 splits.
The Last Word
All in all, if Russell opting in wasn’t a key step towards improvement, the Lakers trading him could very well be. The team already has limited cap space—even if LeBron takes a pay cut. Thus, LA must trade for high-caliber players if they want to begin the JJ Redick era on a high note.
