This mock trade gives the Lakers a three-time All-Star center

USA Today

29-05-2025

This mock trade gives the Lakers a three-time All-Star center
People seem to be split on whether the Los Angeles Lakers should go after a role-playing, defensive-minded center who rim runs and excels on the boards or one who is an All-Star caliber player and is also an offensive threat.
One writer has suggested that the Lakers should aim somewhat high and go after Jarrett Allen, the Cleveland Cavaliers center who was an All-Star three years ago. Another writer proposed a big mock trade that would give them not only Allen but three other viable complementary players who would make them much deeper.
Jonah Kubicek of NBA Analysis raised the bar even higher by suggesting a mock trade that would give Los Angeles Bam Adebayo, a Miami Heat big man who has made the All-Star team three times. In this trade idea, the team would give up forwards Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt and wing Dalton Knecht, as well as a 2031 first-round draft pick and first-round pick swaps in 2028 and 2030.
Via NBA Analysis:
"With wings like Dorian Finney-Smith, Jordan Goodwin, and whichever free agents they can add (they are the Lakers, after all), Los Angeles only needs a rim-running center," Kubicek wrote.
"They have the assets to land one of the best ones in the league."
Adebayo has been one of the NBA's best big men on the defensive end for the last few years. He is seemingly always a candidate for the Defensive Player of the Year award, at least in the minds of the Heat, and has been named to one of the league's All-Defensive teams in each of the previous five seasons.
But Adebayo, who is 28 years of age in July, is much more than a defensive specialist. He has career averages of 15.7 points and 8.9 rebounds a game, as well as a lifetime shooting mark of 53.7% from the field, and he's a strong finisher at the rim, which could make him a nice target for lob passes from Luka Doncic.
He even expanded his offensive game a bit this season by making 35.7% of his 2.8 3-point attempts per game. Overall, he could be a viable No. 3 offensive option for Los Angeles, especially after LeBron James leaves.
The downside of this trade for L.A. is that its roster would be very thin afterward. It would only have the expiring contracts of big men Maxi Kleber and guard Gabe Vincent to use as trade assets, although it could always elect to move Austin Reaves in order to become deeper at the guard and forward spots.
It is hard to imagine the Heat trading Adebayo, let alone to the Lakers, especially given how ruthless team president Pat Riley is. But with six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler gone, the team clearly needs to retool, and it is always possible it decides to hit the proverbial reset button.
If that happens, one can only hope Riley, who won six NBA championships with the Lakers as a player, assistant coach and head coach, would do the Purple and Gold a solid, especially knowing that his current team is far away from winning it all.