Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Los Angeles Lakers

Without making this trade, the Lakers are still the favorites to win the 2021 NBA Finals with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but by adding Victor Oladipo, there may not be any other team in the league that can stop the Lakers. They are already one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, but by adding Oladipo, they would be getting better on both ends of the court.

Not too long ago, Victor Oladipo led the league in steals and was named to the All-Defensive team. Fully healthy, Oladipo is an elite level one-on-one defender and paired up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers would be one of the hardest teams to score against in NBA history. 

Not to mention how hard it would be to stop this team on the offensive end of the court. Losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Alex Carus definitely hurts the Lakers depth and overall three-point shooting, but putting together a “finishing” lineup of LeBron James, Dennis Schroder, Victor Oladipo, Anthony Davis and Montrel Harrell is almost unfair. 

This lineup would be something out of 2K21 and virtually impossible to stop on the offensive end of the court because of how many weapons they would have. If they were to make this trade, the Lakers would still have Marc Gasol, Wesley Matthews, Markieff Morris and Talen Horton-Tucker as key contributors. 

If they can make this trade, there is no reason why the Lakers shouldn’t, but Los Angeles is fine if they do not make this trade. Keeping the team they have now may be the most logical thing for them, especially because of how well this team plays together. There is no immediate need to shake things up other than because of greed because LeBron James and Anthony Davis are a one-two punch that can get it done as is.