{"id":110323,"date":"2024-12-02T16:39:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T21:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=110323"},"modified":"2024-12-02T16:39:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T21:39:40","slug":"lakers-trade-rumors-kyle-kuzma-jonas-valanciunas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/02\/lakers-trade-rumors-kyle-kuzma-jonas-valanciunas\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Rumors: Insider Provides Update on Pursuits of Two Wizards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the rollercoaster of the <\/span>Lakers<\/span><\/a>\u2019 early season, reports have discussed their aggressiveness on the trade market. HoopsHype\u2019s Mike Scotto has included several trade targets for the Lakers to consider, including two from the Washington Wizards.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Rumors: Insider Provides Update on Pursuits of Two Wizards<\/h2>\n

Kyle Kuzma Reunion<\/b><\/h3>\n

Scotto reported<\/span><\/a> the Lakers are among the teams monitoring <\/span>Kyle Kuzma<\/span><\/a>\u2019s situation with the Washington Wizards.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The Dallas Mavericks nearly traded for Kuzma last season before pivoting to acquisitions of <\/span>PJ Washington<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> Daniel Gafford<\/span><\/a>. The Indiana Pacers were interested in Kuzma before swinging a blockbuster trade to acquire <\/span>Pascal Siakam<\/span><\/a>. The Sacramento Kings have also been linked to Kuzma for the past two seasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other teams who\u2019ve kept tabs on Kuzma include the Bucks, Warriors, Lakers, Heat, and Cavaliers, HoopsHype has learned.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kuzma has played in 12 games for the Wizards this season, averaging 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists on .420\/.276\/.688 splits. The <\/span>Wizards<\/span><\/a> have been nothing short of a disasterclass this season, most recently completing \u201cNo Win November\u201d after <\/span>losing to the Bucks<\/span><\/a> for their 14th straight defeat. As for why teams are interested in Kuzma, Scotto explained:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Teams around the league believe the 29-year-old forward is worth monitoring as a trade candidate due to his skillset and declining salary over the next two years while in his prime years. Executives around the league also believe Kuzma doesn\u2019t fit the long-term timeline of Washington\u2019s young core.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does Kuz Back to LA Make Sense?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Considering Kuzma\u2019s situation and previous contributions to LA, it\u2019s understandable why the Lakers would think about bringing him back. The 27th pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, Kuz called LA home for four seasons and was a key contributor to their 2020 championship. During the Lakers\u2019 run to banner #17, Kuz averaged 10 points and three rebounds per game while shooting 43% from the field, 31% from three and 78% from the free-throw line. In his four years as a Laker, Kuzma put up 15.2 points and 5.6 rebounds on .448\/.338\/.727 splits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, Kuzma has maintained his scoring while in D.C. He averaged 17 points per game in his first season as a Wizard, and has had two consecutive 20-PPG seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He\u2019s only a season removed from the best scoring campaign of his career, when he averaged 22.2 points per game on 46% shooting from the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from his familiarity with LA\u2019s stars, Kuzma would bring back the scoring punch he gave the Lakers earlier in his career. He would also add some size and versatility to LA\u2019s frontcourt, slotting into either forward position. Kuz has already proven he can shine on a contender, and getting him away from D.C. could be exactly what he needs. At first glance, it wouldn\u2019t hurt to add Kuz to LA\u2019s list of targets.\u00a0<\/span>However, considering his struggles compared to the success of the Lakers’ starting wings<\/a>, there\u2019s another name they should continue to go after.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Still Interested in Jonas Valanciunas<\/b><\/h3>\n

Scotto said the Lakers remain interested in Wizards center <\/span>Jonas Valanciunas<\/span><\/a>. He even added a potential package they could use to try and land him\u2014headlined by reserve guard <\/span>Gabe Vincent<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Keep an eye on Los Angeles potentially dangling Vincent and future second-round picks to try and land Wizards center <\/span>Jonas Valanciunas<\/b>, a coveted Lakers target.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vincent is coming off an efficient <\/span>10 points against the Jazz last night<\/span><\/a>, shooting 4\/5 from the field and 2\/3 from three. It marked his first start of the season and one of his better games as a Laker, as he had notoriously struggled since <\/span>returning from knee surgery last December<\/span><\/a>. Considering his ineffectiveness despite the hefty payday<\/span>, Vincent showing up as a trade piece shouldn\u2019t be surprising for Laker fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much has been made about the potential fit between Valanciunas and the Lakers, but given LA\u2019s current situation with bigs, trading for him now is one of their best bets. The team needs as much support as it can get around <\/span>Anthony Davis<\/span><\/a>, who is currently in the midst of an <\/span>MVP-caliber campaign<\/span><\/a>. Valanciunas\u2019 production would also help <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a>, who is still operating at a high level but has flipped a facilitating gear in year 22\u2014he has <\/span>recorded<\/span><\/a> six triple-doubles this year and has eleven games with double-digit assists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The concerning <\/span>updates<\/span><\/a> around <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Christian Wood<\/span><\/a> have triggered the alarm bells in LA, exposing their weakness in the middle and emphasizing the importance of depth at that position. Now is as good a time as ever to acquire another center who can play behind or next to Davis, and Valanciunas could very well be the solution to one of LA\u2019s main problems.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the rollercoaster of the Lakers\u2019 early season, reports have discussed their aggressiveness on the trade market. HoopsHype\u2019s Mike Scotto has included several trade targets for the Lakers to consider, including two from the Washington Wizards. Lakers Rumors: Insider Provides Update on Pursuits of Two Wizards Kyle Kuzma Reunion Scotto reported the Lakers are among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":110335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,4721,18],"tags":[240,167,1128,38],"class_list":["post-110323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","category-wizards","tag-anthony-davis","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-kyle-kuzma","tag-lebron-james"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110346,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110323\/revisions\/110346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}