Lakers trade rumors: New trade targets for LA after 2019 offseason news
By Jason Reed
The summer of 2018 was on everyone’s mind when it came to Lakers trade rumors. Now, that superstar narrative has been delayed one calendar year.
For months now, Lakers trade rumors, overall league speculation and actual deals that transpired all signaled that the Los Angeles Lakers were set to cash out big in the summer of 2018. Every reported deal (including the completed trade with the Brooklyn Nets) was set on the premise of freeing up cap space for the 2018 summer.
While it was a bit ambitious, to say the least, the Lakers’ plan seemed to be to free up as much cap space as possible to intrigue several stars to join forces like the Miami Heat did in 2010.
When you are the Los Angeles Lakers, those hopes are a lot stronger than many would think. The weather is better (although it does not affect basketball), the night life is better and heck, the Lakers are arguably the most prestigious franchise in the NBA.
Now, though, all of that is for nothing. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reported Tuesday Morning that the Lakers’ are beginning to look at their future in a wider lense; now focusing on the summer of 2019.
Does Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have something up their sleeve? Or are these reports surfaced merely to buy time before the fan base gets mad? Or, NBA conspiracy here, did LeBron James hire a fake source to leak this report to get everyone off of his Lakers’ scent? Well, probably not.
Still, fans should be focusing on the stars available in 2019. However, with this report, it also opens up a lot more trade possibilities for the Lakers before the deadline.