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Lakers News: LA Given Big Odds to Land Zion Williamson if Traded

Matt Levine

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
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The Los Angeles Lakers have started the new NBA season out with a record of 7-4. Despite bringing back almost entirely the same roster as last year, the Lakers seem to have more energy under new head coach JJ Redick.

However, for them to contend at the highest levels, it will likely mean that they will need to make a trade. There have been a few star players floated around in recent weeks, with New Orleans Pelicans star forward Zion Williamson being among them.

If the Pelicans do decide to move on from Williamson, Los Angeles has been given the best odds to land him. According to Bovada, the Lakers lead the way with +600 odds to land the star forward.

The biggest issue with any deal between the Pelicans and Lakers would be that New Orleans would want to wait until after this season. New Orleans owns the Lakers 2025 first-round pick so they would have no interest in helping the Lakers get better until after that pick has been finalized.

Los Angeles could present the Pelicans with an interesting trade offer, dangling their 2029 and 2031 draft picks in the process. New Orleans would be playing the long game with the Lakers picks, hoping that they would fall out of contention by the time the picks materialized.

Williamson could be interesting for the Lakers considering his star power. But his injury history could give Los Angeles some hesitancy in making a deal for him.

He remains out currently due to a nagging hamstring injury. Williamson has also missed multiple amounts of time since entering the league in 2019.

But when he is on the court, Williamson has been dominant. Last season, he played in 70 games for the Pelicans, averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.

The forward ended up getting hurt in the Play-In game against Los Angeles, ending his season. But the Lakers could see a pathway to pairing Williamson with star Anthony Davis for the next few years.

Williamson has always been viewed as a player who would want to play in a big market and Los Angeles is one of the better places to make that happen. His explosiveness and energy on the court could do well with the Lakers so this would certainly be an interesting option if the opportunity presented itself.

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Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

Matt earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Louisiana State University in 2021. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, covering all Southern California sports in his career.

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