Lakers Rumors: Possible trade returns for Brook Lopez

The Cleveland Cavaliers have also had a shake-up of their own this offseason. First, the team parted ways with star point guard Kyrie Irving after he requested a trade away from LeBron James. Second, the team brought in veteran shooting guard, and best friend of LeBron, Dwayne Wade. To secure their title chances, they could look to bring in a dominant center.

Tristan Thompson is good an all, but Brook Lopez would give the Cavaliers a significant advantage size wise and would give them another three-point tool in their tool bag. To defeat the Warriors, you have to outshoot them from beyond the arc. Lopez makes that much easier than with Tristan Thompson.

In the Irving trade, the Cavaliers managed to bring in Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and the Brooklyn Nets 2018 picks. With LeBron recently stating that he is not going to leave the city of Cleveland, this draft pick becomes a trade chip. We all saw how quickly the Cavs traded away Andrew Wiggins when LeBron came back; he does not want to play with inexperienced players.

In this deal, the Lakers get a practically guaranteed top-five pick to continue to build on their young core, perhaps to choose a young center. Channing Frye is on an expiring deal, and J.R. Smith is only owed three of his 14 million two seasons from now. While they would take a cap hit next year, this deal is the perfect plan B if they know they will not land a superstar this offseason.