The Los Angeles Lakers are coming to the end of their 2017-18 NBA season, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a whole lot still at stake. The upcoming summer will be one of the more important in the team’s history, as they will have the opportunity to make a franchise-altering splash or two that could thrust them back into the title picture.
Most assume this move will come in the form of a free-agent signing thanks to the cap space the Lakers have painstakingly cleared in order to chase the likes of LeBron James and Paul George this summer.
However, another option would be to use their cap space in a trade, either taking on a bad salary in exchange for assets or absorbing the contract of a player who has worn out his welcome elsewhere.
One such player could hypothetically be Hassan Whiteside, the Miami Heat big man who recently went on a tirade against his team over a lack of playing time. Might he be available on the trade market, and if so is he even the type of player that the Lakers should target?
Similarly, the Kawhi Leonard situation with the San Antonio Spurs appears to be getting stranger by the day as the star forward is in New York to rehab an injury away from his team. With free agency coming for Leonard next summer, might it be worth the Lakers time to send the Spurs a trade offer that might convince them to send Leonard back to Southern California?
Plus, will Julius Randle regress after he gets a big new contract this summer? And what should the team be hoping to show during the final stretch of games? Host Trevor Lane and guest Hannah Kulik discuss all that and more on this episode of the Lakers Nation Podcast, just click the player above.
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