Los Angeles Lakers: Three ways to trade the first-round pick
By Jason Reed
3. Trade down to acquire depth
This is the exact opposite of the previous scenario and may be the Lakers’ best route if the player option leverage is not used by Paul George or DeAndre Jordan. The Los Angeles Lakers definitely can utilize a young talent in the draft for depth purposes but moving down in the draft will not have a huge impact on this pick having that effect.
As previously alluded to, the Lakers could use some size in with Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant both having their own questions. However, what the Lakers also need is backcourt depth. Behind Lonzo Ball (and hopefully Paul George) the Lakers have just Josh Hart and Tyler Ennis.
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That is not really a bench backcourt that is going to take anyone in the league by storm.
One deal that makes a ton of sense that would be great for the Los Angeles Lakers would be trading down with the New York Knicks for Trey Burke. The Knicks are in a rebuilding stage and would better benefit from adding picks for an expiring deal in Burke.
Burke proved with a great bounce-back year last season that he could be a huge asset off of the bench. In 21.8 minutes per game (although he only played 36 games) Burke averaged 12.8 points, 4.7 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game.
His contract is minimal so it won’t hurt the Lakers’ salary cap figure. In this deal, the Knicks would be trading the 37th overall pick and Trey Burke for the 25th overall pick and maybe Zubac or Bryant.
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The Lakers would be getting some bench depth in the backcourt as well as another pick to draft depth in the frontcourt. Heck, with two second-round picks after this deal, the Lakers could even try and package up back into the first. Anything is possible with Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka.