Does this trade make sense for the Los Angeles Lakers?
The Lakers are going to entertain offers for Kyle Kuzma in the offseason in search of landing another All-Star caliber player, so there really is nothing not to like about this trade from Los Angeles’ point of view.
Kuzma and Harrell are not long-term solutions for the Lakers and right now, they are chasing championships, so draft picks do not hold much value to them either. Creating a trio of Lillard, James and Davis makes the Lakers practically unguardable and easily makes them the favorites to win the 2022 NBA Finals.
There would be no way to guard them and they would look like an All-Star team at times because they would have three of the best players in the entire league on the court together. Initially, the rest of their team may look very weak and vulnerable, but the Lakers would easily be able to fill out the rest of the roster with veetran players on minimum contracts that are looking to “ring chase.”
As mentioned before though, trading Kuzma and Harrell, as well as several first-round draft picks, still may not be enough for Lillard. Portland is going to need a lot more in return player-wise, which is why a third and fourth team would likely have to get involved.
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Who knows what Portland actually wants for Damian Lillard, especially since their #1 goal right now is to keep their star point guard, but you have to imagine that they will want to try and remain relevant even if they do trade him away. This is why getting Kuzma and Harrell does not really do anything for the Trail Blazers.
The Lakers would be huge winners in this trade, but if they are going to try and trade for Damian Lillard, they are going to have to try and gather the assets to trade away like they did in the Anthony Davis trade. Right now, they do not have appealing assets like Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram to trade away, which is why they are not in a great position to trade for Lillard.
