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The Los Angeles Lakers are only a month into the 2022-23 NBA season, but their playoff hopes are already slipping away. The team is just 5-10 through 15 games, and it seems clear that the current roster simply isn’t good enough to compete in the Western Conference. The only option is a trade. The Lakers are desperately trying to hold on to their last two first-round picks (2027, 2029) but is the organization willing to trade this Lakers season — one of LeBron James’ last few — for those picks? If not, it’s time to revisit a trade that reportedly was available in the offseason, and make the Indianapolis Pacers’ Buddy Hield and Myles Turner the top Lakers trade target.
Buddy Hield and Myles Turner
Before the season started, the reported trade between the Lakers and the Pacers was guard Buddy Hield and center Myles Turner for Russell Westbrook and the two first-round picks. A month into the Lakers season, general manager Rob Pelinka needs to get on the phone, call Pacers GM Chan Buchanan, and while the phone is ringing, keep his fingers crossed that this deal is still available.
For starters, let’s be clear that any top Lakers trade target can’t be a single target. It has to be targets, plural.
The 2022-23 Lakers aren’t one player away, and one of their biggest weaknesses thus far is their depth. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are both playing over 34 minutes this season, and that’s a recipe for an injury to one or both of them as the season goes along.
Additionally, players playing double-digit minutes for LA include Matt Ryan, Max Christie, Wenyen Gabriel, and Austin Reaves. And no, this is not the Summer League roster. It’s the real, live 2022-23 Lakers.
On top of improved depth, the Lakers need 3-point shooting and rim protection. The current team is dead last in 3-point percentage this season, shooting a paltry 31.2% from behind the arc. And they are giving up the 12th-most points in the league (114.2) while opponents are shooting 54.1% from 2-point range, which ranks the Lakers 18th in the league.
Hield and Turner might not completely solve these problems, but they help a great deal.
Buddy Hield is a 3-point specialist who is shooting an incredible 40.3% from deep on 9.9 attempts per game. He’s also averaging 18.0 points, 3.0 assists, and 4.9 rebounds a game. Adding Hield would fundamentally change the way the Lakers play, in a good way. LeBron is currently leading the team with 7.1 3-point attempts per game, and no other player has more than 5.1.
Myles Turner would likewise upgrade the Lakers in several ways. He is also a good shooter for his size and position. The 6-foot-11 center is shooting 40.0% from long range on 3.3 attempts per game. He is averaging 18.2 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks. That blocks number leads the league for players who have played 10 games or more.
Turner’s rim protection is a big reason the Pacers are fifth in the league in opponent’s 2-point percentage, allowing just 50.4% on the season. This acquisition would help Anthony Davis tremendously. The Lakers' big man doesn’t like playing center, and his body is not built for that wear and tear. The Pacers' big man is the perfect modern center and could easily play next to Davis in the Lakers’ starting and closing lineups.
the block to give Myles Turner 1,000 on his career.😤 pic.twitter.com/KnqmtLhfYE
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) November 8, 2022
While Buddy Hield and Myles Turner are the main targets, if the Lakers are going to give up two unprotected (or lightly protected) first-round picks that, at this point, look like potential lottery picks, they can ask the Pacers for a little more, too.
With Westbrook’s $47 million salary and Hield and Turner’s approximately $40 million, Pelinka has an extra $10 million or so to play with. Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell isn’t having a great year by any means (3.7 points, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals) but with more minutes, and playing around way more talent than he is in Indianapolis, it’s worth the Lakers asking for him in the deal, too.
After 15 games, there is a chance that Pelinka and owner Jeannie Buss see the writing on the wall and aren’t willing to part with those future picks, as they could become incredible rebuilding pieces if the Lakers are in the death spiral it currently looks like they are in.
However, if there is any saving this Lakers season, it will take a bold move, and this Lakers trade for Buddy Hield, Myles Turner (and maybe T.J. McConnell) is just that type of bold move.
Three-point shooting, rim protection, depth, and addition by subtraction are the keys to an LA turnaround, and this Lakers trade would accomplish four of those things.
