The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in an odd spot, they have only three players under contract next season outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
To keep the King happy in Los Angeles, the Lakers will need to build a championship roster around him once again. And doing that will be easier said than done. However, Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley has suggested a way they could land long-time target Buddy Hield.
“Part of the problem is that Malik Beasley, the best on-paper shooter whom they added, never lived up to the billing. That’s why it would make sense to swap him and a future first-round pick for former Lakers trade target Buddy Hield, who is one of the NBA’s premier perimeter shooters,” Buckley writes.
“Hield, who might be too old for the rebuilding Pacers to keep, just had an absurd shooting season, netting a career-high 288 triples at a 42.5 percent clip. He’d have cheat-code potential playing alongside James and Davis, who could both feed him for spot-up shots and thrive in the open areas that his shooting would create.”
To do this, they would have to pick up the team option for Malik Beasley, which is worth $16.5 million next season. It is also an expiring contract, which could be appealing to the Indiana Pacers with their young roster. And for the Los Angeles Lakers, getting a career 40% three-point shooter who they have long coveted would also work well.
Would The Los Angeles Lakers Be Willing To Part With Another First-Round Pick?
What the Lakers learned this season is that they can certainly make a deep playoff run if they surround LeBron James and Anthony Davis with solid role players. That should ideally be the formula moving forward, although trades for stars are still being discussed.
The big question is whether the Lakers would want to trade any more future first-round picks after giving up 2027 at the trade deadline. It would be the only future first they could trade, and a Buddy Hield move doesn’t move the needle without more significant additions.
The Lakers will have to retain a lot of their quality role players this season if they want another crack at success, but somehow adding Buddy Hield without giving up a first-rounder would be a big move.
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