Trade Alert: Lakers Land Electric Young Guard to…

The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t made a single trade since February 9, 2023. That is not a typo.

A flurry of moves at the 2023 trade deadline helped Los Angeles rebalance its formerly point guard-heavy roster and find its footing heading into the postseason. The Lakers finished with a 43-39 record and the West’s No. 7 seed.

The team made a solid run through the first two rounds of the playoffs, before getting utterly trounced by the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in the 2023 Western Conference, team president and general manager Rob Pelinka made some modest offseason signings, in addition to taking care of some of his own (he extended Jarred Vanderbilt and re-signed Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell). In terms of free agency, he brought in 3-and-D forward Taurean Prince and defense-first point guard Gabe Vincent, along with reserve centers Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood.

Pelinka sat out the 2023-24 trade deadline, although by that point the Lakers under now-ex-head coach Darvin Ham were mired in play-in terrain once again. Late into the season, Pelinka brought in free agent point guard Spencer Dinwiddie to essentially serve as his Vincent replacement off the bench, when injuries impeded Vincent’s availability and hurt his rhythm when he did eventually suit up.

Los Angeles went 47-35 but bested the 49-33 New Orleans Pelicans to secure the No. 7 seed heading into the 2024 playoffs… where the Lakers were beaten 4-1 by the Nuggets in the first round.

Pelinka outdid himself this past summer in terms of transaction inaction. He didn’t make a single free agency signing or trade this offseason, though he did drafted two new Lakers: rookie guard Dalton Knecht (already looking like an All-Rookie Teamer, although he’s quite limited defensively) and Bronny James (TBD).

Now, with a middling 15-12 record that’s good for, you guessed it, the No. 7 seed in the competitive Western Conference, one wonders if the Lakers would actually, you know, look to make a midseason trade or two to improve their current roster and compete for more than a first round upset in this year’s playoffs.

Cholo Martin Magsino of Fadeaway World submits one fascinating trade with the Indiana Pacers that would seed L.A. doing just that.

Pacers Receive: Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood, and Jarred Vanderbilt

Lakers Receive: Bennedict Mathurin

In this deal, the Lakers would surrender basically nothing (Wood and Vanderbilt have been hurt all year, while Hayes has been sidelined for much of the season himself — only Vanderbilt is expected to have much of a rotation role whenever he does return, although he’d be a non-scoring bench big) for a former All-Rookie Teamer and No. 6 draft pick.

The third-year shooting guard out of Arizona, still just 22, is averaging 17.2 points on .465/.372/.854 shooting splits, 6.2 boards, and 1.8 dimes a night, and could add a lot of scoring punch either off the bench or starting in the backcourt alongside Austin Reaves. He’s still on his rookie-scale deal, so bringing him on wouldn’t hurt L.A.’s cap. And he’s by far the best player in the trade.

So why would Indiana do this at all? Los Angeles would need to include one or both of its tradable future first round draft picks in such a deal.