Kemba Walker – Oklahoma City Thunder
Los Angeles is going to consider all of their options this offseason and they will likely have a couple big names on their radar in free agency, but one trade target that could emerge for the Lakers is Kemba Walker, who was recently traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Nobody really knows what the Thunder have planned with Walker and he cannot be traded until after July 7 due to him recently being traded from Boston, but he could fill an immediate hole on the Lakers’ roster. Not only is he an upgrade from Dennis Schroder, but Schroder is set to be a free agent anyways that wants to be paid $20M+ per year.
Walker is owed $73.6M through the 2022-23 season, should he exercise his $37.7M player option for that season, which is not ideal for the Los Angeles Lakers but at the same time, re-signing Dennis Schroder on a long-term, $20M+ per year contract is equally as bad. Schroder is a great player, but if the Lakers have to choose between paying him or Kemba Walker, I much rather have Walker personally.
As a result of missing some games due to lingering knee problems, Kemba Walker only averaged 19.3 points, 4.9 assist and shot 36% from beyond-the-arc, missing the All-Star game for the first-time since the 2015-16 season, but Walker still was efficient for Boston being their second/third go-to-guy at times.
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The Lakers are chasing championships at this point with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, which is why they are willing to spend whatever amount of money it takes to win a championship.
Going after Kemba Walker is definitely risky given his knee problems and his financial hit to this organization, but he may have the biggest “reward potential” out of any other trade target that is “available” on the trade market this offseason.
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