There has been a lot of discussion about how the Los Angeles Lakers can reshape their roster this offseason to get things back on track after a disastrous 2021-22 NBA campaign. Moving on from Russell Westbrook would seem to be the first thing that anyone brings up, but that is much easier said than done.
It would be shocking if Westbrook didn’t pick up his $47 million player option for the 2022-23 season. Once he officially opts in, the Lakers can try and find a trade partner for him, but none are likely to emerge unless Los Angeles is willing to include draft capital, which they have very little of to offer.
Another avenue that the team could explore is trading Anthony Davis. While the Lakers would be hard-pressed to get back as much value in a Davis trade now as they sent to the New Orleans Pelicans, it would still restock their roster and draft capital more than a Westbrook deal would.
Davis’s injury history is well documented and they continued this season. He appeared in only 40 games, the second consecutive season that he missed at least half of the regular season. But, when healthy, he has proven to still be one of the best players in the league.
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Should the Los Angeles Lakers make him available, plenty of teams would live up to try and acquire him. In the prime of his career and without any catastrophic injuries to his record, franchises would take a chance on Anthony Davis. He showed just how valuable he could be during the 2020 Orlando Bubble when the Lakers won the NBA Championship.
One team that could pique Davis’s interest as a trade destination would be the Chicago Bulls. They are his hometown team and he has been asked throughout his career what it would be like to play there at some point. If the Lakers decide to move him, there is certainly a deal to be made.
Chicago came roaring out of the gates this season, proving all of their naysayers wrong that questioned their offseason moves. Unfortunately, injuries began to pile up and the team’s production fell off near the end of the regular season.
If the Bulls fall short in the postseason and suffer an early exit, they could look to shake things up a little bit. It wouldn’t be very cheap to acquire Davis, but they could certainly build an intriguing package.
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One package that could work for both sides is Anthony Davis heading to the Windy City in exchange for Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Patrick Williams, and a 2022 first-round pick. The Chicago Bulls giving up on Vucevic after acquiring him ahead of the 2021 NBA trade deadline would be a surprise, but Davis would raise the team’s ceiling, especially defensively.
With Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan more than capable of carrying the scoring load, Vucevic isn’t needed as much as when they made the trade with the Orlando Magic. Davis is no slouch offensively but is lightyears ahead of Vucevic as a defender.
In this deal, the Chicago Bulls sacrifice a lot of their future in White and Williams, but they are keeping a majority of their depth. If they do not want to trade Vucevic, it would take multiple more rotation pieces, such as Alex Caruso, Troy Brown, and Ayo Dosunmu, to match salary and get a deal done.
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From Los Angeles’ perspective, this deal helps restock the roster with some better-fitting pieces. If they are unable to move Westbrook, they need to add as much shooting around him as possible. Vucevic is one of the better stretch-fives in the NBA and White has improved his 3-point percentage every year of his career, making 38.5 percent this season. Williams has shown some floor-spacing capabilities as well, while also offering elite potential defensively.
Some people will say that the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t getting enough in exchange for Anthony Davis, which may be true. But, receiving two high-upside players still on rookie deals, a first-round pick, and clearing some cap space to become big players during the 2023 offseason would certainly be appealing to Los Angeles.
