Los Angeles Lakers: The three-team trade to land Anthony Davis

The Los Angeles Lakers appear once again to be the frontrunners for Anthony Davis and can land the superstar in a three-team trade.

The Los Angeles Lakers‘ biggest priority is to not come out of this deeply talented offseason empty-handed. Not only are the Lakers geared for a star with the proper salary cap space, but the team also has valuable trade assets to go that route as well.

Los Angeles has the young core of Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball, all of which are valuable in their own way. The team also got extremely lucky and moved all the way up to the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Although the draft class does fall off after the top three, the Lakers obviously got a lot of lucky value out of moving up seven spots.

As we wrote yesterday, it is looking like the Lakers are going to have to make a trade to get a second star. With three teams having two max contract spots and there only being a limited amount of stars, the Lakers very well could come out of free agency empty-handed.

With a trade being the most likely outcome, the Los Angeles Lakers’ number one focus will obviously shift to Anthony Davis. And while the chances of landing Davis seemed bleak after midseason trade talks fell through, the Lakers very well might be the last team standing for Davis.

The Celtics can offer an intriguing package but won’t part ways with Jayson Tatum and the New York Knicks just have the third overall pick with some unproven young assets. The Lakers’ young assets have already proven more in the league.

However, the Pelicans obviously want to get more value than the Lakers were offering in February and the perfect way to do that is in a three-team trade. We saw this trade idea over at Pelican Debrief, and quite frankly, it makes too much sense to pass up.

Although a backcourt of Lonzo Ball and Jrue Holliday would be fun to see, reports out of Ball’s camp earlier in the season made it clear that he does not want to go to New Orleans. Thus, instead of forcing a fit that might not work for that reason, the Pelicans can include the Suns, who need a point guard and should have every reason to like Ball.

Getting Ball for the sixth overall pick is an absolute steal for the Suns and is not something the team would be able to do one-for-one with the Lakers.

The Pelicans definitely would be better off right away by getting Ball but the team could instead use the pick on someone they like, creating a young core that could blossom into something truly special.

With the first overall pick and Zion Williamson, the Pelicans would have a core five including Zion, Ingram, Kuzma and the two draftees from this year. If Phoenix is really desperate to get Ball, I would not even be surprised if the team sends a future first rounder as well to further add young value to the Pelicans.

This is a great haul for New Orleans, especially for a star that does not want to be there and only has one year left on his contract. The only team willing to do this would be the Los Angeles Lakers as well, as that is the only team that is 100 percent assured that Davis would re-sign.

And while it might be sad to see the young trio go, it would actually maintain over $30 million in salary cap space to add alongside Davis and LeBron James.

That could mean getting a third star, such as Kyrie Irving, on a slightly lesser deal or adding multiple pieces. Either way, this three-team trade is the best move the Pelicans can make for Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers should capitalize.