Los Angeles Lakers: Should they trade for Chris Paul?
By Zane Harris
What it would take to get CP3
After spending some time in ESPN’s trade machine, I came up with a few trades that I believe both teams would benefit from along with matching up contractually. The main problem for the Lakers is that many of the tradable players on the Lakers have a no-trade clause.
This could make a deal almost impossible to work out. However, in this scenario, it will be a give that all players are okay with being traded. Trade one was Chris Paul for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, Quinn Cook, Avery Bradley, and Rajon Rondo.
In terms of the Lakers, it is very straight forward what they get in Chris Paul. In this trade, the Thunder would get much more manageable players that they could either move their contracts or buy them out.
Along with this, they get a sharpshooter in Danny Green and good young talent in KCP and Quinn Cook. Possibly on a team like the Thunder, they would be able to greatly raise their stats like we have seen with the young Lakers that were traded to the Pelicans.
In the second trade, KCP, Danny Green and Rondo were kept in. However, Avery Bradley was swapped out for Talen Horton-Tucker and JaVale McGee. This would give the Thunder a very quality backup center and a good young prospect in Horton-Tucker to further improve their young core at guard.
For the Lakers, it would justify them signing DeMarcus Cousins back to the team and having a rotation of Dwight Howard and Cousins at center. Lastly, it would be the riskiest trade for the Lakers and they would be giving up much more than probably necessary.
It would be realistic to believe that the Thunder could throw in another player or draft picks to match what the Lakers are giving away. This trade consisted of Chris Paul to the Lakers for Kyle Kuzma, Talen Horton-Tucker, Danny Green, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, and KCP. This is likely an offer that the Thunder could not refuse, but it would require the Lakers to rebuild their team through free agency. However, it would give them the best trio in the entire NBA.