Lakers rumors: L.A. standing firm on no Kyle Kuzma in trade for Pelicans' Anthony Davis

The Los Angeles Lakers still would prefer not to include Kyle Kuzma in a trade for New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis.

As the New Orleans Pelicans continue to field offers for superstar forward Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics have emerged as front-runners in negotiations.

But it appears that the Lakers are growing increasingly stingy with the assets that they are willing to sacrifice in order to acquire Davis. According to Marc Stein of The New York Times, Los Angeles is standing firm when it comes to its refusal to include forward Kyle Kuzma in any potential deal:

The Lakers, thus far, are sticking to their no-Kuzma trade posture … but let’s see if they maintain it with the draft only a week away now. L.A. knows it likely needs to land Anthony Davis before June 30 to become a factor in chasing a prime free agent to join a LeBron/AD duo

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 13, 2019

In February, the Lakers seemed willing to part with Kuzma in addition to Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball in order to land Davis, but it now appears that they hope to leverage the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft in order to possibly retain some of their younger assets.

However — as Stein indicates — they may have no choice but to get more aggressive. Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics appear to be unfazed by recent indications that Kyrie Irving may be headed to the Brooklyn Nets in free agency, and are hoping that acquiring Davis would convince Irving to remain in Boston.

Davis has suggested that his preferred landing spots would be in Los Angeles or with the Knicks in New York, but Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin does not seem keen on trading his young star to another team in the Western Conference.