Lakers News: LA Almost Signed Recent Champion Role Player To Mid-Level Exception

Could the Lakers land him before the trade deadline?

Your Los Angeles Lakers appeared to have won the 2023 offseason. The Lakers signed players who, at the time, seemed like great fits for the team alongside superstars Anthony Davis and LeBron James. 

At the time, the Lakers were considered title contenders due to their moves in the off-season. Even though Los Angeles missed out on some top talent. One of the players they had serious interest in and possibly could've signed is Toronto Raptors' new guard Bruce Brown. 

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said Friday on "NBA Countdown" that the Lakers were serious players for Brown for the midlevel exception this past summer before he signed with Indiana. 

woj just hinted at the lakers being extremely interested in bruce brown

he even went as far as to say they tried trading for him while he was a pacer

wow pic.twitter.com/FhhBLVkU07

— Coach Rome (@Rome_Beast) January 20, 2024

Brown was among the first players to sign in the summer, and the hope of signing him immediately died. However, the hope is back on as he was traded from Indiana to Toronto last week. 

The 27-year-old guard could get traded again before the trade deadline, and the Lakers are among the interested teams. 

We're 43 games into the season, and the Lakers are in desperate need of a trade. It's evident, the only question is, "Who will they target?" Brown fits the bill into who they need. The Lakers need scoring punch, and he could provide that. 

In the season, he's averaging 12.1 points on 47.5% shooting from the field and 32.7% from three. Brown is a good target; however, there are other options the Lakers will explore with less than three weeks till the deadline. 

It could be Brown or another player, but it's clear the interest is there. We'll see if the Lakers and general manager Rob Pelinka could pull it off.