Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis was diagnosed with a calf strain, keeping him sidelined until after the NBA All-Star break. After sitting out a couple games with swelling of the tissue around his Achilles tendon, Davis re-aggravated his injury against the Denver Nuggets on Feb. 14 and will now miss a significant amount of time.
With Anthony Davis on the sideline, not only will LeBron James have to elevate his play even more than he has to sustain the Lakers success, but other key role players like Kyle Kuzma, Markieff Morris and Montrezl Harrell will all have to step up into bigger roles. L.A. is a pretty deep team in terms of players that can contribute, but the one weakness of their team lies in their frontcourt.
Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell are above-average players, but with Gasol struggling this year and Harrell being utilized off-the-bench, the Lakers do not have many other reliable options to turn to for production. As a result, they could be in the market for a cheap, reliable center who could give them meaningful minutes with Davis sidelined.
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They are not going to go after guys like Andre Drummond or Myles Turner, but a player like Mike Muscala, who is owed just $2.2M this season is very much in play. A value pick up will be something to watch for in NBA trade rumors. Muscala played with the Lakers for 17 games during the 2018-19 season and could be a reliable stretch big man L.A. targets ahead of the trade deadline.
The Thunder and GM Sam Presti are always willing to negotiate deals for anybody on their roster, but it could wind up costing the Lakers a future draft pick. Could Los Angeles pull off a trade before the NBA trade deadline to acquire another frontcourt player? Let’s take a look at what it would cost the Lakers to acquire Mike Muscala from OKC.
