The Los Angeles Lakers finally made a trade in the offseason as they traded Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson for veteran and former Los Angeles Clippers’ guard Patrick Beverley. Pat Bev is certainly an interesting fit with the team. A defensively minded guard, Beverley will add some much-needed perimeter defense to the Lakers.
Trading away Talen Horton-Tucker makes sense, as well. While the combo guard showed flashes of brilliance once in a blue moon, he was often inconsistent and couldn’t make an impact off of the bench. While getting a return of Beverley for THT and Stanley Johnson might seem worth it, the Lakers could have had a star guard like Kyle Lowry if they would have traded Horton-Tucker two off-seasons ago.
Reminder that the Lakers refused to include THT in a trade for Kyle Lowry. pic.twitter.com/IRfMw4OOaA
— StatMuse (@statmuse) August 25, 2022
While the 21-year-old’s trade value has decreased now, two seasons ago, THT was showing all signs of being a great role player. Impressing the team in the pre-season games against the Los Angeles Clippers, many thought that the combo guard might have been a steal for the team. Despite his middling numbers in the regular season, it seems like Rob Pelinka was willing to take a chance on the young guard.
This was made clear when the Lakers front office’s reluctance led to the Lakers losing out on former champion Kyle Lowry. During the 2020-21 season, Lowry was looking for a way out of the Toronto Raptors. Among the many teams who were interested were the Lakers. Things looked all but set for the Purple and Gold. With the Raptors demanding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Dennis Schroder, and THT, the Raptors were willing to give up Lowry.
But Rob Pelinka was certainly high on the guard and considered that the price was too high in the first place. Ultimately, the Lakers could not bring in Lowry and it is safe to say that things haven’t worked out quite well for the team. While the front office was confident that they were making the right call by not pulling the trigger on the Lowry trade, with the latest Beverley trade, it seems they couldn’t have been more wrong about the young guard.
The Lakers might have had a big three set if the Lowry deal went through and probably could have competed for a championship, but now they find themselves on the fringes of the top Western Conference teams with chances of challenging for a title, looking slimmer day by day. Can the Lakers bounce back and become contenders for the championship yet again?
