SPORTSPEK
Destiny or a Mistake?
by mattsizzle
So this Lakers trade has had me on edge lately. Many people are screaming it was good and many are screaming that it was bad. I have a very mixed review on the matter. True, though, they gave up a lot. But did they really?
A few days ago, The Pelicans agreed to a deal to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three future first-round picks – including the No. 4 overall in highly coveted 2019 NBA Draft.
They gave up a bust of a PG in Lonzo Ball. His rookie season was a joke for someone who was claimed to have been an MVP type player by his father. Granted, his sophomore year met him with serious injury and he had to miss half the season. I'll give him that excuse, but in all honesty I wouldn't have seen him as giving that much impact to LeBron anyways. Overall, the Pelicans should have left Ball alone as Jrue Holiday is definetly a more impactful player.
However, I think both Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart were solid players. Both played hard on both ends of the court and proved in being major contributors for the Lakers before LeBron threatened to trade them both. But here's the thing. These are the two players that would make the AD trade worth it for the Pelicans. I think that was wise of them to go for these two and makes sense for the Lakers to give up.
However, I think the biggest gasp moment was the trading away of the next three years of first round picks. That is wild to me. The Pelicans basically have guaranteed themselves a successful rebuild with two top five picks in this year's monster Draft and also moree to come in the future. The Lakers? Well the Lakers just bet all their money on one player who isn't even guaranteed to stay since he has one year left on his contract. That to me is quite the gamble considering how in turmoil this team has been the last year.
Overall, I think it comes down to this year's free agency to see if this move was a success. I would think the Lakers are smart enough to either let go of a player or two or even trade them away for cap space. They NEED a third piece to this team besides the ego of Kyle Kuzma. If they can get a third superstar this offseason to sign with them, then this trade was worth it. The Lakers put all their cards into basically one year. If they don't build a stable environment and a winning season for the next year, I don't think AD will be staying in LA and that would be disasterous for the organization as they gave up their future for him.
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