The Lakers might be retaining a lot of last year’s talent, but they are looking at ways to improve outside their roster, including potentially bringing back Brook Lopez.
The Lakers’ have already seen two big inflection points before the start of free agency. One was D’Angelo Russell opting into his contract and the other was LeBron James opting out of his deal, but being open to a discount in order to open up the full mid-level exception.
With those two moves, the team suddenly has a lot of flexibility heading into free agency and it could lead to some big moves. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, one player the Lakers could aim to trade for is Brook Lopez.
League personnel with knowledge of the situation believe Thompson is the Lakers’ top target at this juncture, and Jonas Valančiūnas continues to be mentioned as a veteran center on Los Angeles’ radar. The Lakers have also been exploring trade scenarios with the contracts of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent, sources said, and Brook Lopez has been one of the primary options on the Lakers’ board of hopeful acquisitions, sources said.
For the Lakers, trading for Lopez makes perfect sense. Last season for the Milwaukee Bucks, Lopez averaged 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds, numbers far better than anything Christian Wood or Jaxson Hayes could produce for Los Angeles.
Lopez also shot 36% from beyond the arc, which would give the Lakers the type of stretch five they’ve desperately lacked throughout the Anthony Davis era. He’s also long been an elite defensive big man, even at the age of 36.
Lopez would be a new Laker, but this wouldn’t be his first stint in Los Angeles.
He was a Lakers player from 2017-18 during the Lonzo Ball years. He averaged 13 points and four rebounds and started in 72 games for the purple and gold.
A deal with Milwaukee is possible salary-wise with contracts like Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt and Russell, but would the Bucks accept a deal with those players and if not, what trade would they be comfortable taking for Lopez?
This is where the vice president of basketball operations, Rob Pelinka, earns his salary.
Free agency isn’t even officially underway and it’s already heating up with lots of names.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.
