Lakers Rumors: If LA gets Westbrook, possible trade returns for Lonzo Ball

All three of these trades will see Ball traded alongside Luol Deng for a star in a different position. Here, the Lakers would be acquiring a name that has been tied to their organization before; Jimmy Butler. Butler was just recently traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves from the Chicago Bulls, however, if this season pans out the prospects of Ball in Minnesota may be too good to be true.

Before the draft, the Timberwolves seemed to be a perfect fit for Ball. Ball would have brought the same playmaking ability as Ricky Rubio, with far greater scoring ability. With Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins both in Minnesota, we could have seen a big three built from the ground up much like it was in Golden State.

So, if the Timberwolves fall short of their title pursuit this year, they may turn short-term success into long-term success. With no real shot of dethroning the Warriors anytime soon, it would make sense for Minnesota to look three years into the future. With a trio of Ball, Wiggins and Towns anything is possible.

Plus the Lakers get arguably the second best, if not the best, shooting guard in the entire league. Butler definitely can score with the best of them, evident from his 23.9 points per game, and he brings the best defensive work at the shooting guard position.

Not only would the Lakers have perhaps the best offense trio behind the Warriors, adding Butler’s defense would give them much more success when attempting to dethrone the defending champions.