It’s been another tough season for the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite their improvements on the defensive end of the floor, Darvin Ham’s team still can’t find their best shape, and LeBron James’ injury only aggravates their situation.
The Lakers have refused to include any of their future draft picks in trade talks thus far. They could’ve had Myles Turner and/or Buddy Hield, but that reluctance to add draft capital pretty much killed the deal.
However, they could still land cheaper players with minor transactions here and there. With that in mind, the word around the league is that they’re keeping tabs on New York Knicks’ Derrick Rose.
NBA Rumors: Lakers Could Trade For Derrick Rose
(via Heavy)
“The Los Angeles Lakers are interested in trading for a $43 million All-Star and former MVP. Heavy.com senior insider Sean Deveney spoke to an Eastern Conference executive who stated the Lakers ‘have always had interest’ in New York Knicks point guard Derrick Rose, who is available in trade talks.
‘He is always going to be the good soldier and he might not even want out of New York just because he and Thibs are so tight,’the exec told Deveney. ‘But he’s going to want to play at some point and he is going to want a chance to win. The Lakers have always had interest, but there is no way to make that deal work now with the contracts they have.’”
As great as Rose has been to Tom Thibodeau over the years, he’s not an integral part of the Knicks’ project. On the other hand, the former MVP has a close relationship with LeBron James, and they even teamed up in Cleveland, so he’d welcome this move.
However, it seems like this trade wouldn’t make the Lakers significantly better, either. So, Rob Pelinka better start working overtime to find a way to overhaul their roster before this turns into another wasted season.