Over the past few seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers have established themselves as one of the most active and aggressive franchises in the NBA, vigorously pursuing both trades and free agent signings.
President of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka have used this approach to make the moves necessary to sign LeBron James as well as set themselves up nicely for future deals.
Now, the Lakers are rumored to be targeting a familiar face on the trade market: Phoenix Suns forward Trevor Ariza. Of course, nothing comes without a cost, and Los Angeles would appear to have to part ways with swingman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in order to bring in Ariza.
On this episode of the Lakers Nation Podcast, host Trevor Lane breaks down the potential trade and explains why it makes sense to swap the two despite Caldwell-Pope’s improved shooting over the past few weeks.
Then, Lane brings in Keith Smith of Yahoo! Sports to break down all of the complications with Caldwell-Pope’s contract, as well as what kind of role agent Rich Paul could play if such a move is going to be made.
They also dig into an important upcoming date for the NBA’s trade market and explain why it could make a deal even more difficult to pull off. Finally, the topic of Anthony Davis comes up, and the framework of what the Lakers would have to give in order to land him is brought up as well as the timing of when the Pelicans might actually be willing to move him.