Report: Lakers ‘have interest’ in trade for Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal

Throughout the history of their franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers have always had big dreams for the trade market. Part of that, it must be noted, is because — from getting Pau Gasol for next to nothing, to as far back as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar demanding his way to California — their wildest goals have a habit of coming true.

This latest set of hopes, however, are probably a bridge too far even for an organization with as many examples of lopsided star trades as the Lakers have. Because in the latest report from Jovan Buha of The Athletic, the always-plugged-in insider revealed that a few of the names the team is holding out hope for are not like the others (emphasis mine):

As The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported earlier this week, the Lakers have had discussions for Detroit’s Bojan Bogdanovic, as well as the Knicks’ Evan Fournier and Cam Reddish.

In addition, other names that have come up are DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Kuzma, Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, Kyrie Irving and Doug McDermott.

All of these players fit the bill as either wings, bigs or stars.

In the ultimate pie-in-the-sky scenario, the Lakers have interest in Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal if any of the three stars were to become available.

The first sets of names from the first two paragraphs? Not that wild, most of whom have been previously reported at some point.

The ones from the last graf I bolded? hahahahahahahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhaahahahahaha

Look, I get it: Every team would like to have some of the best players in the NBA. But it’s a whole other level to tell reporters that you even have “pie-in-the-sky” hopes that you could get Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard or even Bradley Beal for Russell Westbrook and two first-round picks, which is all the Lakers can offer right now. It would be like me leaking that I’m hoping to trade Anthony Irwin for Kevin Durant. Yes, that would be a massive upgrade for our Twitter presence and podcasts, but it has about the same chances of happening as the Lakers getting a deal done for him right now.

Of the three, I guess maybe Beal could have a chance of happening if the Wizards decided to blow it up? With a no-trade clause, he could theoretically force his way to Los Angeles if he so desired in such a scenario. But that’s a huge “if,” and not a particularly likely one based on the Wizards’ past approach — or really, even Beal’s history. It’s also indicative of this Lakers front office’s continuing preoccupation with hunting for stars above all else that they’d want to trade for one of the worst contracts in the NBA to build out a new, admittedly better-fitting big three while still lacking any depth around their star trio whatsoever. It’s also probably unlikely enough that it’s not worth punting more of the season waiting for, but the Lakers probably aren’t doing that, either.

Right? Right? Sigh.

Anyway, buckle up for the next kicked can down the road and a new date and set of reasons for the team to delay a trade for. Hopefully next time it’s because they’re hoping Giannis demands a buyout so he can play in Los Angeles.

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