When the transaction moratorium is lifted, the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be active in the trade market this fall. They may have successfully ended their title drought last season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they would stop trying to find ways to improve their current roster. One of the potential trade targets for the Lakers in the 2020 offseason is LaMarcus Aldridge of the San Antonio Spurs.
According to Jonathan Kiernan of Fansided’s Lake Show Life , the Lakers may consider sending the Spurs a package that includes Kyle Kuzma, Danny Green, and JaVale McGee in exchange for Aldridge. In his article, Kiernan cited ways in which the veteran big man could help the Purple and Gold defend their throne in the 2020-21 NBA season. At 35, it’s crystal clear that he’s no longer in his prime.
However, he remains a very reliable contributor on both ends of the floor, giving the Lakers a third scorer and an established veteran who could lessen the burden on the shoulders of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Most importantly, the potential arrival of Aldridge in Los Angeles would provide the much-needed improvement for the team in terms of spacing the floor.
“For his size and position, LaMarcus Aldridge is an exceptional shooter. The lack of respect that Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee got on the perimeter would not be allowed whilst Aldridge is on the floor. He is way too consistent from deep for teams not to give him respect from outside. This in turn gives the likes of Anthony Davis and LeBron James even more room to get their way to the basket and punish teams on a nightly basis. Aldridge can also step in and allow Davis to cook from the outside also.”
Aldridge is undeniably an upgrade over McGee and Howard at the center position. McGee and Howard have indeed done a great job as the man in the middle while AD was playing at the power forward position, but replacing them with Aldridge would put the Lakers’ frontcourt on a different level. As Kiernan noted, the frontcourt pairing of Davis and Aldridge would be a “match made in heaven” and would make the Lakers a more dangerous team offensively next year.
Meanwhile, the potential deal would also make sense for the Spurs, especially if they don’t have any plan of giving Aldridge a contract extension. Instead of losing him in the summer of 2021 as an unrestricted free agent without getting anything in return, the Spurs would turn his expiring contract into two quality role players in Green and McGee and a young and promising talent in Kuzma, who could be part of their long-term future.
