{"id":96223,"date":"2024-09-17T09:28:14","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T13:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=96223"},"modified":"2024-09-17T09:28:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T13:28:14","slug":"lakers-rumors-east-pg-darius-garland-viewed-as-realistic-dream-trade-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/17\/lakers-rumors-east-pg-darius-garland-viewed-as-realistic-dream-trade-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Rumors: East PG Viewed as “Realistic” Dream Trade Target"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even though the <\/span>Lakers have added to the back end of their roster<\/span><\/a>, many still wonder if there\u2019s room for upgrades up front. Bleacher Report recently compiled a list of \u201crealistic\u201d dream trade targets for every NBA team, and fans may be familiar with their choice for the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Rumors: East PG Viewed as “Realistic” Dream Trade Target<\/b><\/h2>\n

From “The Land” to LA?<\/b><\/h3>\n

B\/R\u2019s <\/span>Eric Pincus<\/span><\/a> views Cleveland Cavaliers guard <\/span>Darius Garland<\/span><\/a> as the most realistic option for the purple and gold. Across 57 games, the 24-year-old averaged 18 points, 6.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds on .446\/.371\/.834 splits. The fifth pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, Garland has enjoyed putting up big numbers in \u201cThe Land,\u201d boasting consecutive 20-PPG years in 2021-22\u2014his All-Star season\u2014and 2022-23. He has been one bright spot in Cleveland\u2019s post-<\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> era and a key piece of a <\/span>core<\/span><\/a> that includes <\/span>Donovan Mitchell<\/span><\/a> and the recently <\/span>re-signed<\/span><\/a> Isaac Okoro<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Pincus believe the Lakers could target Garland at the right price:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers may avoid the three-star concept, especially given the restrictive new rules and the team’s high payroll, which has bottlenecked its flexibility this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, if Darius Garland became available out of Cleveland, the Lakers would probably offer both of their firsts to the Cavaliers for the young guard. Salary matching would be complex, probably requiring more than one team.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Garland\u2019s Benefit to the Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

Garland, if available, would certainly be an intriguing fit for the Lakers. He has already proven he can start for a contender and has put up big numbers against strong competition. Garland scored 30 points or more <\/span>four times this season<\/span><\/a>, but all of them came against worthy playoff-bound teams\u2014the Orlando Magic (36), Minnesota Timberwolves (34), Phoenix Suns (32) and Philadelphia 76ers (30). His continued improvement as a facilitator is another benefit for LA, who have strived to take the ball-handling pressure off of James and <\/span>Anthony Davis<\/span><\/a> in recent years. Also, Garland has been just as solid defensively, tying a career-high average of 1.3 steals per game this season and racking up 74 total swipes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Granted, the major question that comes with Garland is whether he\u2019s a legitimate upgrade over <\/span>D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/span><\/a>. Following a productive season of 18 points and six assists per game on .456\/415\/.828 splits, some may argue that D\u2019Lo is perfectly fine where he is. However, the thing that separates the two talented point guards is their playoff performances. Russell has notoriously struggled under the postseason\u2019s bright lights, but Garland has consistently thrived under them. While the Cavs made their run to the second round last year, Garland averaged 15.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists on .427\/.352\/.810 splits. In his playoff debut the season before, he turned heads with a 20.6-PPG showing despite Cleveland\u2019s first-round exit. It\u2019s clear Garland has been an X-factor for the Cavs in the playoffs, though the same cannot be said for Russell on the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Garland became available at some point in the season, the Lakers would be wise to call up the Cavs in hopes of acquiring a standout two-way threat and proven playoff performer.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even though the Lakers have added to the back end of their roster, many still wonder if there\u2019s room for upgrades up front. Bleacher Report recently compiled a list of \u201crealistic\u201d dream trade targets for every NBA team, and fans may be familiar with their choice for the Lakers. Lakers Rumors: East PG Viewed as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":76936,"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":[1608,9,26,62,4721],"tags":[240,307,1937,38],"class_list":["post-96223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-lakers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-anthony-davis","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-darius-garland","tag-lebron-james"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96223","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=96223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}