Detroit Pistons: The Lakers dream of trading for Bojan Bogdanovic

Detroit Pistons: Trading with the Lakers

I looked at some of the possibilities for Lakers’ trades in the offseason, but it’s really hard to come up with anything that works that doesn’t involve Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has taken the brunt of the criticism for the Lakers’ poor start, which seems a tad unfair given that he hasn’t been close to their worst player and actually has an effective field goal percentage just below LeBron’s.

But outside of trading Anthony Davis or LeBron James, the Lakers don’t have many other options, but would Detroit even consider taking on Westbrook? If so, they’d have to be compensated, as he is still owed a ton of money this season and isn’t exactly a clean fit with a young team.

Obviously, Detroit would love to get that 2029 pick as well, but it’s hard to see the Lakers giving up both for a move which might not even make them better.

For Detroit, this move makes some sense, as Burks and Noel probably aren’t part of the future plans and have yet to really even play. Bogdanovic would be the big get for the Lakers, but Burks and Noel could both help them, especially if the Lakers won a few games between now and December 15th and weren’t that far out of the playoff discussion.

This would be a tanking move for Detroit, and makes some sense if that is their goal, as Bogdanovic has been a tricky fit with Saddiq Bey and Detroit has a ton of money to spend next offseason in free agency. Adding another value first-round pick would give Detroit more firepower to make trades in the offseason and they may be able to come up with three better players between free agency and trades.

This move would also potentially make the Lakers better, taking away another competitor for the top pick, so I am sure the Pelicans would not be happy to see the Lakers make any move that might help them improve.

In the end, I can’t see this happening, though you could argue that the Pistons are going nowhere with these three players anyway, so they may as well cash in and get a first-round pick, one that could be valuable as the Lakers continue to collapse over the next few seasons.

For now the Lakers will have to keep dreaming, as Bogdanovic isn’t available anyway, so we’ll revisit this around the December 15th deadline and see where both teams are then.