The Los Angeles Lakers don’t want to go the Big 3 route, tip-toeing around the financial implications.<\/p>\n
They don’t want to trade Austin Reaves<\/a> or Rui Hachimura<\/a>, let alone LeBron James<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet, with a 20-16 record and a feeling that there isn’t much of a difference from how they looked last season, they have to do something.<\/p>\n Trading for Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> isn’t going to cut it, even if he is a star in his role<\/a>. However, because the Lakers now have Finney-Smith, they may be more willing to move Hachimura. That opens up the possibilities, including trading for a high-salary star, like Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Though there’s a marked difference in Finney-Smith and Hachimura’s skillsets, both play the same primary position. The way that offenses have evolved so happens to have made that position one where there’s overlap in their roles, regardless of their respective strengths.<\/p>\n To that point, because James, Davis, and Reaves have greater priorities within the offense, he’s expected to play off of them. This has led to Hachimura taking 38.9 percent of his field goal attempts beyond the arc this season. His three-point rate (.392) on catch-and-shoot attempts is even higher.<\/p>\n One way to approach this would be to bring Hachimura off the bench. Similar to a relief pitcher, he can come in for James and provide a spark with his versatility and scoring ability. That being said, when the playoffs roll around, the bench isn’t who the Lakers will be relying on. This doesn’t make him invaluable but it does even make him more expendable, at least if L.A.’s trade target is a starting-caliber –if not an All-Star-level –player.<\/p>\n If a LaVine trade does go down, expect Hachimura to headline the package that the Bulls want and receive. His latent potential could become fully realized in the Windy City. Gabe Vincent<\/a>, Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a>, Jalen Hood-Schifino<\/a>, and Jaxson Hayes<\/a> would also have to be moved as well for salary purposes.<\/p>\n With Hood-Schifino and Hayes on expiring contracts, Chicago shouldn’t mind the cap relief they get from them. The tricky part is convincing the Bulls to take on Vincent and Vanderbilt. Nonetheless, Vincent’s contract will expire in 2026 and Vanderbilt is being paid $12 million annually through 2028.<\/p>\n A third team, particularly one with cap space or a trade exception, could help facilitate the deal.<\/p>\n In the aftermath, the Lakers would be left with a starting lineup featuring James, Davis, Reaves, Finney-Smith and LaVine. Their second unit would likely be Christie, Dalton Knecht<\/a>, Cam Reddish<\/a>, Shake Milton<\/a>, and Christian Wood<\/a>. Though their depth takes a hit, they’re left with a sound forward rotation (James, Finney-Smith, Christie, Knecht), backcourt rotation (Reaves, LaVine, Reddish, Milton), and center rotation (Davis, Wood). That’s without Christian Koloko<\/a>, who has played in 21 games this season, having his two-way contract upgraded.<\/p>\n Essentially, they’ll be a thinner team, but stronger. It’s not an exact science but they should certainly be better at the offensive end. 20+ points per game from LaVine in the starting unit is more useful than 11+ points per game from Hachimura.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Los Angeles Lakers don’t want to go the Big 3 route, tip-toeing around the financial implications. They don’t want to trade Austin Reaves or Rui Hachimura, let alone LeBron James. Yet, with a 20-16 record and a feeling that there isn’t much of a difference from how they looked last season, they have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":117464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[26,1608,8,62,3,4721],"tags":[4774,1382,1749,457],"class_list":["post-117411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-rumors","tag-nba-trade","tag-rui-hachimura","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117411","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117466,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117411\/revisions\/117466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Lakers’ Dorian Finney-Smith Makes Zach LaVine Move Realistic<\/h2>\n
Thinner But Stronger<\/h3>\n