Report: Lakers continued to be ‘linked’ to Terrence Ross in trade talks

Rival teams expected the Los Angeles Lakers to pursue Orlando Magic shooting guard Terrence Ross at the NBA trade deadline this week, but until now, there has been no explicit reporting linking him to the purple and gold... at least not this year. As our own Jacob Rude covered at the time that original report dropped, there have been rumors of the Lakers’ ongoing interest in Ross going all the way back to 2015.

Well, it would seem the most random tradition in sports continues, as NBA insider Marc Stein reported in his latest Substack dispatch that Ross is one of the targets most frequently linked to L.A. (along with the previously rumored Josh Richardson):

It should be clear by now that the Lakers don’t have the trade assets to acquire a definite difference-maker ... or offload Russell Westbrook to Houston without surrendering their precious 2027 first-round pick. The Lakers thus might be forced, in fact, to wait for the buyout market to manufacture a badly needed talent infusion. Yet they continue to be linked on the trade front, as time runs out, with the likes of Boston’s Josh Richardson and Orlando’s Terrence Ross.

Stein is as reliable as scoopsters come, and so if he’s reporting this, it is surely something that’s being talked about. What is hard to see, however, is how Ross really helps the Lakers much with what they need.

As a 6’6, 206-pound, not particularly defensively adept 31-year-old, Ross does fit this front office’s previously noted predilection for relatively slight, certified BUCKETS with little stopping ability. However, doubling down on said archetype may not help this team much. And that’s before considering that Ross is both shooting a career-low 31.3% from three and making $12.5 million this season (and $13.5 million in 2022-23), meaning that the only real way the Lakers could get him is by using Talen Horton-Tucker and one of their veteran’s minimum players.

Unfortunately, Ross is only shooting 5% better from deep than Horton-Tucker is — and is still well below league-average — while providing next to nothing on defense, and being nearly a decade older. Even if Ross would probably shoot a bit better in a winning situation and on better shots created by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, if this is what Horton-Tucker’s trade value has dropped to, the Lakers may be better off just waiting for the buyout market.

To keep up with all the latest reports before the deadline, check out our 2022 Lakers trade rumors tracker. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.