The Los Angeles Lakers don’t have that same spark that fueled them to an NBA championship in 2020, but a recent mock trade gifts them with a special talent who could reinvigorate that next season.
Lakers paired with Cavaliers star Darius Garland in recent mock trade
Tyler Watts of King James Gospel suggested that the Cleveland Cavaliers make a play for Lakers forward Austin Reaves by offering former All-Star point guard Darius Garland to the LeBron James-led ball club, saying this in part (h/t Matthew Schmidt of Cleveland Cavaliers on SI):
“The pressure is on the Lakers with LeBron approaching his 40th birthday. Los Angeles hoped Reaves would blossom into a star, but the 26-year-old is more of a quality role player,” Watts wrote. “Do the Lakers go hunting for a marquee name before the deadline in hopes of competing for a championship?
“Garland is represented by Rich Paul and Klutch. They are the ones who dropped the report about a potential trade request (subscription required) if Mitchell signed an extension. Mitchell is locked up, and Paul may try to get his client linked up with LeBron in LA.”
Would Garland bring the Lakers back to title contention in exchange for Austin Reaves?
The Lakers are a team that has been up and down since their last championship in 2020. They brought back the same roster the following season, yet lost to the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the first round of the 2021 NBA playoffs and missed the postseason entirely in 2022 with 33 wins, even with the new play-in format instituted. They did return to prominence by defeating the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals en route to a Conference Finals berth, but last year, they did not look like a surefire championship contender despite their 47 wins.
Garland would do several things for the Lakers. For one, he’d allow them to play a more free-flowing offense as opposed to the one they have led by D’Angelo Russell. Despite Russell’s clutch factor and great talent, his slow play style and deficiencies in other areas hurt the Lakers. Secondly, Garland would also allow L.A. to play with two assertive playmakers in himself and James alternating point guard duties.
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Lastly, the 6-1 floor general is a superb three-point shooter, as seen by his 38.4 percent career three-point clip, and would most definitely be able to be a No. 2 option on offense next to James or Anthony Davis — whoever has the hotter hand in any given game — as well as an All-Star caliber insurance option in the event that either is forced to miss time during the year.
The question the Lakers’ front office would have to ask themselves is whether or not they can move Russell, who has had his name in trade rumors throughout the offseason, for a wing who can approximate the value that Reaves brings to the team.
The 6-5, 206-pound point forward excels at getting to his spots in the half court off the dribble and making big plays for himself and others, as exemplified by his 15.9 points and 5.5 assists per game on 48.6 percent shooting from the field and 36.7 percent shooting from three last season. If the Lakers can get another contributor like that in addition to moving Reaves for Garland, then a deal like that would be worth it.
