NBA Rumors: Lakers Tried To Acquire John Wall For Trade Package Centered On Lonzo Ball, Per ‘Bullets Forever’

The Washington Wizards are currently on the verge of a huge roster shakeup and have reportedly made every player on their roster, including superstars John Wall and Bradley Beal, available in trade discussions. It remains unknown how serious the Wizards are in moving their star players, but once Beal or Wall becomes officially available on the market, several NBA teams who are in dire need of a backcourt boost will surely express a strong interest just to add them to their roster.

One of the NBA teams who has reportedly inquired about John Wall’s availability via trade is the Los Angeles Lakers. Recently, a Twitter user named Gary the numbers guy claimed that an NBA source told him that the Lakers and the Wizards engaged in a trade discussion involving Wall, Brandon Ingram, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Lonzo Ball.

Kevin Broom of SB Nation’s Bullets Forever tried to verify the rumors by talking to his own sources, who are reportedly current NBA agents. Both sources confirmed the rumors and one of them revealed that the trade package that the Lakers offered to the Wizards for Wall was centered on former No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball. Unfortunately for the Purple and Gold, the Wizards refused to send Wall to Los Angeles.

“Source No. 1, a current NBA agent, surprised me by saying the story was true. The source said it’s something Rich Paul — agent to LeBron James and, as of January 2016, John Wall — was orchestrating. But, according to this source, the Wizards were saying no. I was still dubious, so I checked with Source No. 2, another current NBA agent who’s at least as dialed in as Source No. 1. Source No. 2 said the rumor is true. This source said Ball and Caldwell-Pope were definitely in the deal, but that there was still discussion whether the third player would be Ingram, Josh Hart, or Kyle Kuzma.”

In 30 starts for an injured John Wall last year, Tomas Satoransky averaged 27 DK points in 30.6 minutes. @jagibbs_23 believes he is a must-play in DFS tonight at his salary. That and more in @ScoutMedia's NBA DFS Injury Breakdown for this Wednesday: https://t.co/LoZuRwuLG2

— Fantasy Football Today (@FFToday) December 5, 2018

The potential acquisition of John Wall will undeniably boost the Lakers’ performance, especially on the offensive end of the floor. Wall will give the Lakers a very reliable scoring option next to LeBron James. This season, the 28-year-old point guard is averaging 21.3 points, 8.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 block on 44.3 percent shooting from the field and 32.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

However, it remains a big question mark if Wall is worth giving up valuable trade assets like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart. Aside from losing most of their young core, trading for Wall will greatly affect the Lakers’ salary cap flexibility for the next couple of years as his massive contract extension is set to kick in next season.