Los Angeles Lakers: Pros and cons of rumored Jeremy Lamb trade interest
By Dalton Sell
The cons of the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Jeremy Lamb
The most significant concern that the Lakers or any other interested suitor must consider before making a deal is Lamb’s health.
The guard’s career year was cut short last season after he suffered a set of grueling injuries that included a torn ACL, torn meniscus, and femoral condylar fracture. Being limited to just 36 games, teams are unsure how Lamb will play once he returns from such a brutal trio of injuries. Michael noted in his reporting that Lamb would likely start the season with the Pacers to give teams some clarity on Lamb’s status instead of trading for him without a real evaluation. That would help make this an easier move to digest, but concerns could still be nerve-wracking down the road after the set of injuries he just endured.
Also, one would have to put recency bias aside and consider that Lamb’s hot shooting in 2020-21 may have been an anomaly. After all, he has shot just 34.4 percent from deep over nine years in his career, shooting 37 percent or better just twice. While he would get the looks in Los Angeles to help him thrive from the outside, Lamb’s track record says his 3-point shooting is not among his strong suits. They could take the gamble and hope for another hot shooting season, but it would be a risk for a team that is banking on the shooting of the supporting cast.
Lastly, Lamb’s current contract makes it tough for the Los Angeles Lakers to potentially piece together a proper trade package. On the books for $10.5 million in 2021-22, Los Angeles would certainly have to pull some strings to even get talks off the ground. It does not help that they traded away most of their valuable assets in the deal for Westbrook, so creating an interesting package would be tough.