The Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls forward Zach Lavine had mutual interest in possibly assembling a trade that would have sent the forward from the Bulls to Southern California. However, changing circumstances for both the Lakers and Lavine may cause the potential pairing to no longer push through.
Despite showing some interest in a move to LA between November 2023 and January 2024, the Lakers lost interest after Lavine fell to multiple lower leg injuries last season, via The Athletic's Jovan Buha on his Buha's Block podcast. In February, Lavine underwent season-ending foot surgery and was slated to be out 4-6 months.
“I was hearing that he had interest in potentially being in LA [and] being a Laker,” Buha said. “Of course, it didn't play out that way he ended up getting injured again and having foot surgery and the Lakers shifted more toward Dejounte Murray and trying to acquire him.”
Lakers may trade for third star outside Zach Lavine to build future core
With the Lakers clearing house of their former coaching staff, the team is now looking towards adding a potential third star in Dejounte Murray, Trae Young, or Donovan Mitchell to transition the franchise into a post-LeBron James build. However, Los Angeles may no longer consider the Bulls' Zach Lavine as he is not in the same level as the three aforementioned stars.
“Now could those talks be revisited this summer? I don't know I would guess not. I think if you look at what the Lakers need, Zach LaVine checks some of the boxes, but he is a step down from the Donovan Mitchell-Trae Young tier,” Buha added. “There's also now a mounting history of injuries with him uh particularly lower extremity injuries with his knees and now his feet.”
“So I think the injury history mixed with him not being at the level of third star that the Lakers are looking for…that combination to me makes it unlikely he ends up being a Laker,” Buha noted, adding that the Bulls forward's appearance at Klutch's Pro Day in Los Angeles and making a beeline to Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis is not a sign of him seeking a move to the Lakers.
Lakers may also opt to upgrade rotation in lieu of third star
The Lakers may be leaning more towards upgrading its supporting cast rather than adding a third star, particularly due to the uncertainty of which high profile players will be available. These may include possible Lakers trade targets Trae Young and Dejounte Murray of the Atlanta Hawks, Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets, and Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“My sense right now is they're leaning more toward upgrading the supporting cast rather than the three-star model and I say that for a couple reasons. One, it's difficult to trade for a star there's going to be a lot of competition this offseason… But there's also a lot of uncertainty right now where we don't know which star is going to be available in Cleveland…in Atlanta…[and] if there's going to be another star that becomes available is Mikal Bridges in Brooklyn,” said Buha.
Buha also noted that going after a third star may also put them past one of the luxury tax aprons, which may penalize the team and deplete their resources to round out their roster.
“There's still a lot of uncertainty with this whole situation, but my sense right now is the Lakers are more leaning toward upgrading the supporting cast…I expect them to look into the three star build and see who's available and what the price is if Donovan Mitchell is available. That is someone that they have interest in, someone that they view as a top 20 player [and] they view as a really good number three next to LeBron and AD [Anthony Davis], and someone that could grow with AD in the future as the co-star of the franchise.”
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