Lakers News: Reporter Believes This Trade Could Return LA To Contender Status

But would it?

It's clear that, as currently comprised, your Los Angeles Lakers won't be winning much of anything this season. The real question, though, is whether or not there's a trade out there that could change that.

Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report is convinced that just such a deal does exist: the long-rumored hypothetical trade with the Indiana Pacers that would send Russell Westbrook's expiring $47.1 million contract and both of LA's only two tradable first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2029 to the Pacers, in exchange for extension-eligible center Myles Turner, who's been playing like a fringe All-Star during a career-best season, and ace marksman shooting guard Buddy Hield. 

Both players are high-level three-point shooters on volume (Hield is nailing 42.7% of his 9.3 looks a night, while Turner is making 37.9% of his 3.8 takes a game). Turner is also an elite defender, capable of guarding the rim or, when needed, roaming out beyond the paint to defend other good shooting bigs. Hield isn't just a good three-point shooter, he's a great one, currently making the second-most career threes per game in NBA history, per Stathead.

As Bailey notes, there are conflicting reports about just how much the Pacers actually want to make a deal, given that Indiana is hoping to ink Turner to an extension ahead of the February 9th trade deadline. Bailey considers Turner and Hield to be potentially "borderline perfect additions" to help the team with its spacing and defensive issues. At 23-20, the Pacers hardly look like world-beaters as currently comprised. But Indiana may want to grow with at least Turner alongside its young new nucleus of promising young guards Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin. Would LA be amenable to surrendering one of its future picks, plus the expiring deals of Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn, in exchange for just Hield?