Los Angeles Lakers: The cost of trading for Jimmy Butler

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to add a second superstar at some point in the near future and the door has swung wide open to trade for Jimmy Butler.

The Los Angeles Lakers opened up enough cap space in the 2019 offseason to sign another superstar to play alongside LeBron James and the young Los Angeles Lakers core.

The process of adding another star may have exponentially increased as Jimmy Butler reportedly wants out of Minnesota.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Wednesday that Jimmy Butler has requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves and has given the team three potential suitors that he would be willing to sign a contract extension with.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that those three teams are the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks. Not the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although the Timberwolves can work out a deal with any of the other 29 NBA teams, striking a deal with a team that knows it will extend Butler will bring significantly more trade value to the table.

While the Lakers are not one of the three teams reported, if a deal is reached and significant money is offered, Butler may swallow the pride of playing with LeBron James and agree to an extension to compete for NBA Championships.

The Lakers have the cap space to sign Butler to a massive extension and have the pieces to get the deal done. These are just initial reports, nothing is set in stone.

However, as we argued before these reports emerged, trading for Butler may not be the smartest move for the Lakers, especially considering Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson are available next summer without having to give up any young assets.

Neither Leonard or Thompson is a guarantee to come to the Lakers. With Butler obviously being interested in those three teams, the Lakers might be forced to trade for him and offer him big money now with his Bird Rights.

If the front office does not make a move, it runs the risk of striking out on all three stars altogether.

However, to land Butler, the Los Angeles Lakers would have to wait until Dec. 15 for it to even be possible. Unless the Lakers trade the entire core or include a third team, they have to wait until the recently signed free agents can be included in a deal, which is Dec. 15.

For this, though, we are just examining the potential price of trading for Butler. Perhaps Butler sticks it out until December for this deal to happen, where there is a handshake agreement from both front offices.

So, it is a bit tricky but not entirely impossible. If the Butler wants out now then the Lakers better start making calls to third parties.

If a deal were to take place, here is the likely asking price the Los Angeles Lakers would have to give up:

Out of all the young assets, trading Lonzo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves would make the most sense for both sides. Ball would fit perfectly in Minnesota alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins as the core of the offense.

Ball would have plenty of opportunities to drive and kick the ball as well as be on the feeding end of a lob to Anthony-Towns. Jeff Teague is not the answer in Minnesota and the team could trade him to a contender at the deadline to get picks in return.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is in the trade to even out the contracts and would provide the Timberwolves a decent filler at shooting guard. He is on an expiring deal so he would not hurt the team long-term. Again, this would have to wait until Dec. 15 since he is involved.

Isaac Bonga is a nice potential piece to throw in as a courtesy.

As for the Lakers, the team still has Rajon Rondo to play point guard and Josh Hart to split time at both point and shooting guard off the bench. Rookie Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk can be the three-point specialist off the bench to give Hart more time at point guard.

The Lakers starting lineup would then consist of Rondo, Butler, Brandon Ingram, LeBron James and JaVale McGee with Kyle Kuzma, Hart, Ivica Zubac, Michael Beasley, Lance Stephenson and Mykhailiuk coming off the bench.

Do we love this deal? Not really. One thing that is an obvious hurdle is that Rondo and Butler butt heads when playing together in Chicago. Bringing that toxicity to the Lakers, even for just one season, would not be good long-term.

Quite frankly, I cannot justify trading any of the young Lakers core, unless Minnesota is willing to take a deal centered around Josh Hart, for Butler. Butler is great, yes, but the potential baggage that comes with him is a risk.

I think the Los Angeles Lakers could do more with the likely cost of trading for Butler. However, if the team is set on getting him, the front office certainly has the pieces.