The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked with various trades throughout the summer. Russell Westbrook not being the sort of acquisition the team had hoped he would be, has been a large part of the reason behind this. And there have been many suggested trades, the most prominent one being a deal involving Kyrie Irving when it was looking like the Brooklyn Nets would blow it all up. But the other trade that has been discussed a lot has been to the Indiana Pacers for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner, who was reportedly interested in such a move as well.
According to reports, discussions on this front had ended up going on for quite a bit of time, with Indiana even naming a price that was deemed unsuitable. And despite a lot of recent reports saying that the Lakers are moving forward with Westbrook for next season, some fans were hoping that a deal with Indiana could still be worked out. Recent statements from the Pacers hierarchy, though, seemingly have put an end to that.
Indiana Pacers GM Chad Buchanan Said Myles Turner Will Start Next Season With The Team, Potential Lakers Move Gets Shut Down
Some many journalists and reporters work tirelessly to bring news to the fans. And they have a varying degree of reliability in terms of information, but there is one source that can always be trusted. When a franchise’s front office makes a statement, that’s as reliable as it can get. And Pacers GM Chad Buchanan recently spoke about Myles Turner’s situation for the future, something Lakers fans will not like.
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan said this morning on @1075thefan that Myles Turner will be their starting center on opening night, officially ending the potential Lakers trade talks.
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) September 21, 2022
“Pacers GM Chad Buchanan said this morning on @1075thefan that Myles Turner will be their starting center on opening night, officially ending the potential Lakers trade talks.”
Now, the GM could be putting this out in public to misdirect or play hardball during negotiations, but the likelier possibility is that the team has decided to hold on to Turner. The Pacers have an exciting young guard in Tyrese Haliburton, and maybe they could end up seeing something develop there before completely blowing the team up. Or they could be waiting for a better time to trade Turner, the possibilities are myriad.
This isn’t necessarily good news for the Lakers, though, acquiring an excellent starting big like Turner along with a shooter like Hield could have addressed a lot of their issues. However, they have made the moves they can, for now, adding Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schroder. It’s now up to Westbrook to get back to his best and make people forget about the potential players the Lakers could have gotten for him.
