The Los Angeles Lakers were reportedly close to landing John Wall ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. Things didn’t work out for the Purple and Gold, who refused to give in their 2027 first-round draft pick and declined the Rockets’ offer.
It was reported that they could swap Russell Westbrook for Wall, and recently, we learned that they could have gotten Christian Wood in the deal, too. Unfortunately, it fell apart and the Lakers stayed with their roster untouched.
This might not be the end of this story, however, as the 17-time NBA champions could still cross paths with Wall in the offseason. According to Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report, the Lakers can sign several players in the offseason, including Wall.
Los Angeles will have no cap space, meaning it will be limited to the tax-payer mid-level exception of $6.3 million. That’s money that could be used to try to bring back Malik Monk, who deserves a raise given his averages of 13.0 points on 40.3 percent shooting from three this season.
This is a team that needs to add talent on the cheap around its superstar nucleus, preferably players who didn’t hit their prime over a decade ago. The allure of playing in L.A. for the Lakers next to James and Davis should once again convince some ring-chasing vets to take a discount.
Players such as Goran Dragic, Serge Ibaka, Jeremy Lamb, Tristan Thompson, Thaddeus Young and John Wall (if he ends up getting a buyout from the Houston Rockets) should all be on the Lakers’ radar this summer. Carmelo Anthony has earned his roster spot back as well.
This could be a good option for the Lakers if they decide to part ways with Russell Westbrook. That experiment hasn’t worked for the Purple and Gold and it’s time to make some changes. It didn’t happen during the regular season, and once the summer arrives, the front office will have a lot of work to do to fix this situation.
It can be Wall, Ibaka, Thompson, Dragic, or whoever. They need to make some moves to improve their level because they’ve given up too much in the past two seasons and nothing has worked out.
