Lakers' Jalen Hood-Schifino Has Trade Interest From Multiple NBA Teams: Report

Matt Levine | 1 Minute Ago

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As the Los Angeles Lakers continue their regular season, the team is also looking ahead to the trade deadline. They will need to make some moves if they want to truly contend for a title at the end of the season.

But one move that the team may end up making is to offload former first-round draft pick Jalen Hood-Schifino. He was taken with the No. 17 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft but hasn't lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he entered the league.

Los Angeles has already declined the last-year option on his rookie deal, making him a free agent for the upcoming offseason. This makes the chances of the Lakers trading him away even stronger and it seems that he has a few potential suitors on the open market.

According to NBA insider Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, Hood-Schifino has drawn trade interest from multiple teams. This includes the Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz.

“He will be playing in the G League this year, and he’ll have plenty of opportunity to showcase himself, both in the G League in general and at the G league showcase when the entire league descends upon Orlando in December,” Fischer said. “Atlanta had an interest in him in that talk with Dejounte Murray last year. Utah, I believe, has shown interest in him.”

Hood-Schifino hasn't lived up to the hype so far but did look decent during his time with the South Bay Lakers in the G-League. He averaged 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 0.9 steals per game.

But his numbers completely plummeted in 21 games with the Lakers. He averaged just 1.6 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game, showing some issues translating his game over to the NBA.

But having teams interested in him could be good for the Lakers. If they did decide to move him, he would likely be used as salary filler for a bigger deal.

Los Angeles has already been reportedly interested in Jazz center Walker Kessler so maybe a deal could be reached by both sides. Utah and the Lakers have made deals recently so there is always a chance of it happening again.

But for now, all Hood-Schifino can do is showcase himself in the G-League and put his best foot forward. The Lakers will make a determination around the deadline but it could make sense for them not to lose him for nothing.

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