NBA Trades: 5 targets the Los Angeles Lakers must pursue this offseason
By Dalton Sell
NBA Trades: 5 quality targets for the Los Angeles Lakers — Bojan Bogdanovic, Utah Jazz
After trading away Royce O’Neale and Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz appear to be in full-on sell mode this offseason. Rumors continue to swirl that they may trade franchise star Donovan Mitchell, but there is no chance that he will end up on the Los Angeles Lakers anytime soon. However, Utah has made essentially their entire roster available in trades, and as mentioned in the previous report by HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, one Jazz player that could be an option for L.A. is Bojan Bogdanovic.
Without question, Bogdanovic would be a great fit with the Lakers as currently constructed due to his skills offensively. Over the past three seasons with Utah, the veteran has been outstanding by averaging 18.4 points while shooting 39.7 percent from 3-point land on 6.8 attempts per contest. Numbers like that would make Bogdanovic a perfect fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, giving the pair a perfect complementary piece that can space the floor and generate offense. That would alleviate pressure off of those two stars, which would help the team out considerably.
Financially, Bogdanovic is set to make an expiring $19.3 million next season, which means that it would take a sizeable trade to get him to L.A. Scotto reported that there have been talks involving Los Angeles, Utah, and New York that would involve Russell Westbrook and his $47 million salary for next season going to Salt Lake City, which could help the Lakers net Bogdanovic, among other pieces. If those talks progress, it would not be surprising to see Bogdanovic land in LA.