The Los Angeles Lakers are currently monitoring the trade market for Indiana Pacers’ center, Myles Turner. Shams Charania of The Athletic (subscription required) stated on January 10th that Los Angeles has a level of interest in acquiring the services of Turner.
NBA Trades: Myles Turner is an upgrade for the Los Angeles Lakers Lakers, but isn’t worth the cost
Although it isn’t clear how much the Lakers are interested in acquiring Turner, it would be a bad idea for the team to go explore any further talks with the Pacers.Indiana is asking for two first-round picks and a promising young player in exchange for Turner.
Unfortunately, the team has limited draft pick capital – they can only trade two first-round picks until 2029. Therefore, other teams will likely beat their offer simply due to their lack of draft picks. Draft pick capital is not the only off-the-court obstacle that the team will face in trying to negotiate a trade for Turner.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on January 18th that Turner could miss a month with a stress fracture in his left foot. Even if the Lakers and Pacers are able to overcome these issues, Turner still would not be worth it for Los Angeles. Turner’s defensive impact would be reduced due to two of the team’s stars.
Los Angeles is struggling to defend three-point shots, allowing 37.3 attempts per game in 44 outings – the seventh-most in the league. Opponents are making 34.5 percent of their attempts – the fourteenth best in the league.
The Lakers’ three-point defense is significantly worse than last season when they only allowed opponents to average 32.8 attempts per game thru the first 44 outings, which was 10th best in the league.
Despite allowing fewer attempts, opponents shot a higher percentage of 35.1 percent. The significant increase in three-point attempts is associated with LeBron James’ and Russell Westbrook’s unwillingness to move on the defensive end of the floor.
James is only running at a speed of 3.31 miles per hour on the defensive end of the floor, which is the worst team. Westbrook is not far ahead of LeBron, as he is currently running a speed of 3.65 miles per hour.
Their unwillingness to move has resulted in them leading the team in opponents’ uncontested three-point attempts, as opponents are averaging at least 26.5 three-point attempts per game when they are on the court.
James and Westbrook are responsible for 71 percent of the three-point shots that the Lakers give up to opponents. More importantly, 89 percent of opponents’ three-point attempts have been uncontested, as they are averaging 33.2 per game thru 44 outings. These statistics are up from last season, as the Lakers only gave up 28.1 uncontested three-point attempts.
Consequently, Turner isn’t the best fit for the Lakers, as he only contests three threes per game since 2015. Most of Turner’s defensive possessions are spent near the basket, as he challenges 7.6 shots per game within six feet of the rim. He has held opponents to 53.7 percent shooting.