Lakers Rumors: Five players to trade Julius Randle for at the deadline

An eventual Julius Randle trade has been floated around in Lakers rumors for quite some time now.

Julius Randle is one of the best young talents on the Lakers. The power forward out of Kentucky has proven to be a consistent double-double machine for the Lakers with the ceiling to one day flirt with the 20 points per game mark in the future.

Becuase of this value Randle has become the hottest trade chip for the Lakers. He is by no means a superstar but could be a huge part in a young rebuilding franchise. With Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram being the future of the Lakers, Randle is next in line to get rid of Luol Deng’s massive contract.

With Randle under contract for two more seasons before becoming a restricted free agent, it makes sense for LA to deal him. Randle will undoubtedly ask for a fairly large contract, something the Lakers can’t provide. Therefore, who could the team trade him for to get value out of him now?

The veteran shooting guard has already reportedly already been a target for the Lakers and he still could be as the season unfolds. This trade would be simple: the Lakers would send Julius Randle and Luol Deng in exchange for Wade’s services. Wade seemingly doesn’t care where he plays at this point, and the Bulls can accelerate their rebuild.

Wade himself made it pretty clear that he opted into his contract for the money. Playing for a contender does not seem to be on his radar, so he would likely be fine with the nice LA weather and taking a reduced role alongside Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Now, the Lakers would only have to pay Wade’s ridiculous salary for one season while freeing up their cap space for the 2018 offseason, in which something big may happen. Heck, although he said he doesn’t need to ring chase, if the Lakers bring in stars for 2018 Wade could take another pay cut and come off the bench for a championship team.