Lakers Rumors: NBA Writer Proposes LA Trade Anthony Davis to Acquire All-NBA Point Guard

This would be a blockbuster.

Matt Wagner | Jun 4, 2023

Lakers Rumors: NBA Writer Proposes LA Trade Anthony Davis to Acquire All-NBA Point Guard /

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When the Lakers season ended with a home loss at the buzzer to the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the team would've gone into the offseason reflecting on what was a momentous playoff run, albeit one which ended in tremendous disappointment.

That was until LeBron James' postgame news conference.

It was there where James implied that he was pondering retirement, a sentiment later confirmed by ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

Whether he'll actually retire or not is another matter, but the Lakers' urgency to win a second championship with James was suddenly accelerated with those words.

Bleacher Report NBA writer Andy Bailey recently proposed a blockbuster deal for Los Angeles, one that see big man Anthony Davis dealt for one of the best point guards in the league in Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Trae Young.

"Of course, this wouldn't accomplish LeBron's potential goal of upgrading from two stars to three, but Young doesn't turn 25 till September. That alone could keep the Lakers' window to contend open a bit longer, and Young's averages of 27.4 points and 9.7 assists over the last four seasons suggest he's more capable of alleviating LeBron's responsibilities than Davis is."

Bailey's full swap sees Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura going east for Young, third-year big Onyeka Okongwu, and wing D'Andre Hunter.

While intriguing on the surface, I don't see this trade working out well from the Lakers' side of things. They would officially be letting Hachimura go as part of a sign-and-trade after an impressive run with the team, and I don't see trading both Davis and Hachimura -- even for a player like Young and solid pieces in Okongwu and Hunter -- as extending the Lakers' championship window.

Ultimately, I see this trade as a bad one for the Lakers if it were ultimately executed, but we'll see what happens this summer.

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Published Jun 4, 2023

MATT WAGNER

Matt Wagner was born and raised in southern California, and he lived there before moving to Colorado and getting his B.A. in Communications from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2022. He relocated back to southern California in 2023 and is looking forward to covering the teams that mean so much to his home area. Some of his past work is in Bleacher Report, Dodgers Tailgate, and, most recently, Colorado Buffaloes Wire. Aside from writing, you can probably catch him petting the nearest dog or eating some good Mexican food.