NBA Trades: 3 Kyrie Irving alternatives for the Los Angeles Lakers

NBA Trades: The Los Angeles Lakers go for depth instead of star power.

The Spurs were expected to be part of a potential Irving trade since they have around $30 million in cap space. That’s obviously changed with the Nets keeping Irving, but there could still be a deal between the Spurs and Lakers.

A potential deal could see the Spurs trade Jakob Poeltl, Doug McDermott, and Josh Richardson to the Lakers for Russell Westbrook and their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks. On the surface, giving up two future firsts for three rotation players seems crazy, but there are actually plenty of reasons why L.A. should do it.

For starters, Poeltl is one of the most underrated starting centers in the NBA and could do wonders for the Lakers’ defense. He’s an incredible rim protector and, despite being 7’1″, is surprisingly mobile defending away from the rim. That alone would make him a good fit, but he can do a lot more than that.

Poeltl is an elite offensive rebounder and a terrific screen setter, both undervalued aspects of an offense, and he showed a lot of scoring ability last season. When paired with All-Star Dejounte Murray, Poeltl was an excellent roll man and finisher. In fact, he carved the Lakers up for a then career-high of 27 points last season.

McDermott has consistently been among the best shooters in the NBA and hit 42.2% of his threes last season. Not only that, but he’s equally as effective at scoring in the paint. In his last season in Indiana, he hit 64.1% of his 5.7 2-point attempts per game. In San Antonio, he hit 51.2% of those shots.

He’d immediately be the best shooter on the Lakers’ roster and give James a knockdown shooter. Richardson would also give the Lakers another terrific shooter, in addition to being a physical defensive player. Richardson shot 44.4% from three in San Antonio and was a key reason why they beat out the Lakers for a spot in the play-in tournament.

The cost of each of these players, individually, would likely be a first-round pick, while the asking price to offload Westbrook has consistently been at least two first-round picks. Therefore, the Lakers would technically come out ahead in this deal in terms of value. They’d also add three good rotation players to a mediocre roster and still preserve future cap space since Poeltl and Richardson are free agents after next season. It’s certainly not a bad option for the Lakers.

Ultimately, while the Lakers won’t land Irving, there are several alternatives available to them. They could always run it back again with Westbrook, but odds are that they’ll make a trade, and San Antonio or Indiana would be the ideal trade partners.