{"id":75638,"date":"2024-04-30T23:59:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T03:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=75638"},"modified":"2024-04-30T23:59:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T03:59:12","slug":"nba-rumors-3-west-teams-could-stop-lakers-blockbuster-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/30\/nba-rumors-3-west-teams-could-stop-lakers-blockbuster-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Rumors: 3 West Teams Could Stop Lakers\u2019 Blockbuster Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even before their unceremonious playoff exit, the Los Angeles Lakers were expected to be on the prowl this offseason. Clearly needing to make life easier for 39-year-old gigastar LeBron James<\/a>, the Lakers have been linked to<\/a> Atlanta Hawks star guard Trae Young<\/a> for several months. L.A. is rumored to have an interest Young\u2019s backcourt mate, Dejounte Murray<\/a>, as well.<\/p>\n

However, per The Ringer\u2019s Kevin O\u2019Connor, several teams \u2014the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, and Oklahoma City Thunder \u2014may hinder their pursuit<\/a> of a blockbuster trade. O\u2019Connor notes that the Thunder simply have a hoard of assets that would allow them to land a star. Meanwhile, the Jazz and Pelicans are expected to aggressively pursue trades this offseason.<\/p>\n

His report aligns with the message from the Jazz\u2019s Justin Zanik and Danny Ainge. Both have said they want to take the next step forward<\/a> in their rebuild.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeague sources expect the Jazz and Pelicans to be aggressive in pursuing trades this summer with their mountains of picks. And the Thunder have more assets than anyone else, giving them the ability to trump just about any offer for any player.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That said, it\u2019s hard to imagine either Utah or New Orleans being head over heels about Young.<\/p>\n

3 West Teams Could Stop Lakers\u2019 Blockbuster Trade<\/h2>\n

Young is an elite offensive playmaker. However, his diminutive presence on the defensive end is a poor fit next to Keyonte George<\/a> or CJ McCollum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Pelicans\u2019 case, they could always look to move McCollum rather than Brandon Ingram<\/a>. Yet, they\u2019re likely not chomping at the bit to make that move. McCollum has underperformed in the playoffs, primarily due to poor shot-selection. Young has a much better playoff reputation. However, he\u2019s shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from 3 in the postseason.<\/p>\n

With regard to OKC, his high usage style is a questionable fit alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> and Jalen Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As far as Murray?<\/p>\n

Both the Jazz and Pelicans could look to add<\/a> the tough-minded hybrid guard. At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, it\u2019s a lot easier to picture him beside George or McCollum in the backcourt. With Murray\u2019s goal to get stronger in the offseason, he should be able to improve upon his weakness of getting through screens.<\/p>\n

Yet, the Hawks seem to prefer<\/a> keeping Murray over Young themselves. Fortunately for Atlanta, Murray isn\u2019t the best fit alongside Gilgeous-Alexander or Williams either.<\/p>\n

Shopping in Milwaukee?<\/h3>\n

Damian Lillard<\/h4>\n

The Milwaukee Bucks acquired Damian Lillard<\/a> last year in an effort to quell Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u2019s concerns about remaining in championship contention. However, Lillard\u2019s fit has been so clunky that he could be on the move again this offseason. He\u2019s to angle for a trade to the Miami Heat if so. However, the California native could also shortlist the Lakers as a potential destination. That said, neither the Jazz, Pelicans, nor Thunder are likely to be overly interested in Lillard for the same reasons that they wouldn\u2019t go all-in for Young.<\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/h4>\n

With Antetokounmpo linked to L.A last summer<\/a>, one has to wonder if he\u2019ll be a Lakers trade target this offseason.<\/p>\n

In his own words, he hasn\u2019t been happy<\/a> this season, frustrated by the constant change. Unfortunately for Antetokounmpo, he could be in for more in Milwaukee, especially if general manager Jon Horst leaves for Detroit<\/a>. For their part, the Bucks more than likely want to hold onto Antetokounmpo but they may relent depending on the package. Though Antetokounmpo is one of the most dominant two-way playmakers in league history, his injury history in the playoffs may have removed his \u2018untouchable\u2019 tag.<\/p>\n

With that said, Antetokounmpo is one player that L.A., Utah, New Orleans, Oklahoma City \u2014and a slew of other suitors \u2014would go all-out to acquir<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even before their unceremonious playoff exit, the Los Angeles Lakers were expected to be on the prowl this offseason. Clearly needing to make life easier for 39-year-old gigastar LeBron James, the Lakers have been linked to Atlanta Hawks star guard Trae Young for several months. L.A. is rumored to have an interest Young\u2019s backcourt mate, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":75719,"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":[26,4,1608,15,62,4721,24],"tags":[187,1262,306,4774,1349],"class_list":["post-75638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-bucks","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","category-jazz","tag-damian-lillard","tag-dejounte-murray","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-rumors","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75638","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=75638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}