Lakers Rumors: New possible trade targets for the Lakers this season
By Jason Reed
PF Nikola Mirotic
The first trade target the Lakers should consider is a salary dump option. Los Angeles seemingly has the desire to clear as much cap space as possible for next offseason for any potentially interested superstars. While many salary dump options have been presented, the likes of Nikola Mirotic may be the easiest for the Lakers to acquire.
That is because Mirotic himself is not as important to the Chicago Bulls as say, Greg Monroe is for the Milwaukee Bucks. Chicago is in complete rebuild mode after trading Jimmy Butler and buying out Dwayne Wade, so if they can get any sort of young talent for Mirotic they would be very unwise to not pull the trigger.
Mirotic is owed $13 million this season with a club option attached after the year. Of course, the Lakers would have no long-term interest in Mirotic and would thus send him to free agency. With around $40 million in cap space already freed up, this extra $15 million is huge if the team also wants to bring back someone like Brook Lopez.
Last season Mirotic averaged 10.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. While that production would be decent off the bench for the Lakers, that is not the purpose of this acquisition. Instead, Los Angeles would be sending away someone like Jordan Clarkson to free up the cap space to perhaps bring in a superstar shooting guard alongside Lonzo Ball.