Does this trade make sense for the Los Angeles Lakers?
With them being $24.9M over the salary cap and not having much room to bring in more high-level talents, targeting Doug McDermott could be a strong move by the Lakers and their front-office because of his pure scoring ability.
As mentioned earlier, the Lakers overall depth is being exposed with Anthony Davis being out and while they could use another reliable frontcourt option, adding Doug McDermott as a versatile wing could bring a lot of value to this team.
Kyle Kuzma is their best bench player outside of Montrezl Harrell, but overall the Lakers’ bench ranks 22nd in the league in three-point shooting. Los Angeles as a team only ranks 21st in the league in three-point shooting, which is why adding Doug McDermott could be a big addition for them at the NBA trade deadline.
He is currently shooting 37.5% from three-point range this year and would give the Lakers another perimeter threat on the wing that they could rely on for production. Not only can he knock down shots from the perimeter, but adding Doug McDermott to the rotation opens up the court a little more for the other scoring options on the Lakers.
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Teams will have to respect McDermott’s shooting abilities and having him on the court with LeBron, Davis and Schroder would force teams to make a decision about leaving a shooter like Doug McDermott open and double-teaming a guy like James or letting the Lakers play one-on-one to the rim.
Giving up Markieff Morris and Wesley Matthews for a productive role player like Doug McDermott is definitely a good return for the Lakers, but they have a great roster already so it is likely that they will not look to shake things up.
