Lakers trade rumors: Who are the best suitors for Julius Randle?
By Jason Reed
2. Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers may be even more like the Los Angeles Lakers, well, the more developed version of LA, that is. Philadelphia, much like Los Angeles, has been at the bottom of the league for several seasons now. That, and some good trading has led to multiple high draft picks that are finally coming to fruition.
While Philly has had some injury problems to their young stars (Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and now Markelle Fultz), their current squad is producing results. Embiid and Simmons are both fully healthy and tearing it up together — leading the 76ers to a 24-21 record for the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed.
Philadelphia won only 28 games last season. Prior to that, they won just 10, 18 and 19, in that order.
While the 76ers may not be all there yet, they are further along than the Lakers. Thus, the 76ers should look to bring in the final pieces of the puzzle to go along with their current talent. Enter Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson.
The perfect deal is already in place; the 76ers get Clarkson and Randle, the Lakers get Amir Johnson, Trevor Booker and one of the 76ers’ many first round draft picks.
The 76ers get depth as Randle can play anywhere from small forward to center off of the bench. They also get a bench scorer in Clarkson behind Ben Simmons who can also take over after J.J. Redick leaves in the offseason. Los Angeles gets around $17 million in cap space next offseason. Win-win.