The Los Angeles Lakers remain at the epicenter of NBA trade rumors. We know about the Zach Lavine interest, and Shams Charania reported that Hawks guard Dejounte Murray is a potential target for the Lakers on Tuesday.
Again, it's the NBA rumor mill. Take "potential target" with an appropriate grain of salt. Murray is a very good player, and the Hawks are going nowhere, so he's likely a reasonable target ... for a lot of teams. Recently Ian Begley reported that the Knicks also have eyes on Murray.
In a theoretical bidding war, the Knicks could offer way more draft capital than the Lakers, who, at the moment, only have their 2029 pick available for trade. (New Orleans owns either L.A.'s 2024 or '25 first rounder, which rules out 2026 by virtue of the Stepien Rule, and the 2027 pick the Lakers owes Utah (top-four protected) rules out 2028 for the same reason).
Once the Pelicans decide which of the '24 or '25 pick they're going to take, that opens up potentially three future picks the Lakers could move, but that won't happen until closer to draft time this summer. So if we are talking about a deal for this season, it's one available pick for the Lakers to trade.
Even if the Knicks didn't go after Murray, and nobody else really did either, is Atlanta really going to move Murray for one first-round pick when the team gave up three first-rounders plus a pick swap in 2022 to get him?
If the Hawks were to consider a deal with the Lakers, because of the lack of draft capital LA could offer, they would almost certainly want Austin Reaves and/or Max Christie to be a part of the deal. That would complicate matters considerably. Is the net gain of Murray over Reaves, for example, enough to put the Lakers in an appreciably better position to contend for a title?
You could argue it is. Murray is a better player than Reaves (though I would argue not by as great a margin as their name values might suggest); his defense and mid-range shot creation are major playoff necessities, and the Lakers would have him locked up for the next three years to entice LeBron, who can opt out of his current contract this summer, to stick around for another multi-year deal.
A closing lineup of LeBron, Murray, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt/Cam Reddish and Anthony Davis feels contender worthy, with just enough shooting to get by. Murray has proven viable, if not totally maximized, as an off-ball guy next to Trae Young. He's shooting 38% from 3 and has taken to secondary playmaking.
From a financial standpoint, Murray, who begins a four-year extension next season at an average annual salary of $30 million and is set to make $25.5 next season, would make a lot more sense than LaVine, who will make $43M next year.
LeBron James has a $51.4M player option for next season, and Anthony Davis is slotted for $43.2M. Add LaVine at $43 to that, and even if LeBron were to decline the option and sign a multi-year deal at a lower annual number, the Lakers are still looking at major tax penalties.
LaVine is on the books for $40M this season, which would obviously require more outgoing salary to match in a potential deal, but he would cost way less in terms of draft capital without having to give up Reaves. To me, this is far more likely than a Murray deal.
The Lakers can see Murray as a potential target, but in the end, their asset pool likely isn't deep enough to actually get him unless Reaves is included. Even then it might not be enough for Atlanta, but without Reaves there is little incentive for the Hawks to even pick up the Lakers' call.
