You know what’s better than perfectly executing Plan A? Perfectly executing Plan A and Plan B combined.
The Lakers have viewed Kyrie Irving as their ideal scenario this summer, but have also identified Buddy Hield and Eric Gordon as viable Plan B alternatives. However, those moves are not necessarily independent of one another.
Moves for Kyrie Irving or one of the other sharpshooters are not thought to be mutually exclusive as the Lakers are leaving open the possibility that they can pull off trades for both. In his latest episode of The Lowe PostZach Lowe of ESPN welcomed on colleague and Lakers beat writer Dave McMenamin to talk about the current state of affairs with the franchise.
McMenamin revealed some insight into the Lakers’ plans this offseason when it comes to filling out the remainder of their roster.
“They have interest in Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield, perhaps in addition to Kyrie and the piece that would have to be moved in order to get that done would be Talen Horton-Tucker. But, it could also end up being the Plan B if they can’t get this Kyrie situation to come to bear…”
McMenamin then went on to discuss the Nets and the belief by some that Kevin Durant’s trade request was focused more on getting Irving out of Brooklyn than himself.
Setting aside the potential of a 5000 IQ move by KD and the Nets, the Lakers aspect of this is interesting.
On paper, it seems plausible, but only if the Lakers insisted on not including Talen Horton-Tucker in the trade to land Irving as that would be the big chip needed to trade for Buddy or Gordon. One of those certainly seems more attainable than the other, especially given the outgoing package.
Financially, any secondary deal like that would also require THT’s contract as the Lakers have very little else available to trade. A package of THT and Kendrick Nunn plus Wenyen Gabriel’s non-guaranteed contract is enough to acquire either player in a trade.
Clearly, this is the Lakers dreaming really big and while it’s not a particularly likely dream, aiming big with Plan A is the path to take and what the Lakers should be doing. Every trade negotiation should start by aiming high and settling for something more reasonable and that appears to be what the Lakers are doing here.
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