I wrote yesterday that the Lakers were trying to pick from the lottery one more time on Thursday, but no one knew who was going to be traded or who the deal was going to be made with. Of course, one day later, the Lakers make a trade. However, their trade did not put them into the lottery. The L.A. Lakers traded D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for the 27th pick and Brook Lopez.
This trade may not have been exactly what the Lakers were looking for, but still shows a lot about their plans for the future and helped them out in the short-term. First, it can be said with almost one hundred percent certainty, now that Russell is gone, they will be selecting Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick in the draft. Second, getting rid of Mozgov also gets rid of the almost $60 million dollars left on his contract. This will help clear some room for the potential trade or eventual signing of Paul George.
Not only did the Lakers win the trade by shedding Mozgov’s contract and opening a starting spot for Lonzo, they also acquired Lopez who, last season, showed how effective he can be. Brook Lopez averaged 20.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.7 blocks during the 2016-2017 season. Lopez is going into the last year of his contract, so the Lakers will have to decide how he fits on the team after this year.
Overall I give the Lakers a B on the trade for showing Lonzo they trust him and clearing cap space for George. However, they were unable to reach their actual goal of going into the lottery and Lopez is aging and has shown to be injury prone in the past.
As for the Nets, they got rid of a center (Lopez) who had proved his worth but on an expiring contract to trade for an average center with a large contract in Mozgov. D’Angelo Russell, the second part of the lakers trade, averaged 15.6 points and 4.8 assists last season. This doesn’t help Russell’s case who was the number one scoring option, along with Jordan Clarkson on the losing Lakers. Along with, not so impressive statistics, Russell also was right in the middle of locker room controversy with fellow teammate, Nick Young. The 21 year old will have a lot to prove in regards to his leadership and his scoring ability.
With giving up their only draft pick and receiving a large contract and an unproven point guard, the Nets receive a C- for their side of the trade.
