While a bulk of the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason work is done, Rob Pelinka recently made it clear that the organization is still looking for ways to improve its roster.
Considering the Lakers only have one open roster spot and no cap space at their disposal, if they want to make upgrades to the roster, it will likely have to come via trade.
The biggest fish the Lakers have been linked to is Kyrie Irving, although if talks fall through and he stays with the Nets, L.A. will have to look elsewhere.
One potential option that is emerging is Patrick Beverley after the guard was traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Utah Jazz in the Rudy Gobert deal. With Utah now potentially trading Donovan Mitchell, they will be entering a rebuild so it doesn’t make sense to hold onto Beverley in the final year of his contract.
According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, the Lakers and Miami Heat are the teams showing interest in trading for Beverley:
Patrick Beverley also appears to be a strong trade candidate. The former Timberwolves point guard has drawn interest from the Lakers and Heat, sources told B/R. Philadelphia had been mentioned as a potential Beverley suitor, with his past Houston experience and the Sixers’ obvious deep Rockets connections, but it seems unlikely that Beverley would now be Philadelphia-bound after the team acquired De’Anthony Melton on draft night.
Beverley has one year and $13 million remaining on his contract so if the Lakers were to acquire him, it would likely be for Talen Horton-Tucker. It would be interesting to see if that’s enough to acquire the veteran guard or if the Lakers would have to include draft compensation as well.
While the Lakers have been hesitant to include future first-rounders in trade talks so far this summer, it may only take a future second-rounder or two to get Beverley, whose contract is expiring after the 2022-23 season.
There would be some irony in the Lakers acquiring Beverley considering he has been an enemy to the fanbase for so many years, but there’s no denying the role he fills as a tough, defense-first guard is something the Lakers are lacking.
Beverley chooses James as superstar he’d want to play with
And even though Lakers fans have often let Beverley hear it, it seems that he would be open to playing for the team as he named LeBron James as the one NBA superstar he would want to play with earlier this offseason.
Beverley also named the Lakers as the team he would want to join if he was no longer on the Timberwolves, which he now is.
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