Lakers Rumors: Three reasons it’s okay to trade KCP

The team will really need their cap space this summer

There’s enough reason to believe that the Lakers will try every trade option they possibly can in preparation for what should be a star-studded summer. LeBron James and Paul George appear to remain at the top of the list in terms of potential targets, but they’ll have to be sure to unload any contract baggage beforehand.

Over the last free agency period, Caldwell-Pope signed with LA after four years in Detroit and on a one-year deal worth north of $17 million. In addition to his big one year deal, Los Angeles has $30 million more on their books in Brook Lopez, Julius Randle, Corey Brewer, and Andrew Bogut as this piece from Bleacher Report writes.

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Magic Johnson wants to make it all about the return of the showtime era Lakers, and dealing KCP for a good return can set up for a ton of action over the summer. While it’s hard to say what a fair return would be right this moment, there’s no doubt that teams would definitely like to get a defensive guard like him on their squad.

The reason that this point is important is because of the fact that the Lakers need to not be partial in how they handle their financial obligations. There was no problem sending D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov away, there doesn’t seem to be too much hesitation with dealing with Luol Deng’s situation, and that means that it’s only fair to give a KCP trade a fair look.

Brook Lopez and Brandon Ingram have shown that they can handle a good chunk of the scoring while Lonzo Ball still needs to work on some of his mechanics to reach his potential. Kyle Kuzma has also been a nice addition to the team, especially when it comes to contributing all around, so that means that KCP would really be the odd man out if it came down it from the starting lineup.

It’s important that the Lakers don’t lose sight of their long-term plan while enjoying the excitement that they’ve demonstrated so far.