NBA Trade Rumors: Bucks favs to add star, GM LeBron forcing Lakers to make big trade

Hello, Hoops Heads! Here's the latest in NBA trade rumors.

NBA Trade Rumors: Are Anthony Davis and LeBron James forcing the Lakers hand?

After rumors that the Los Angeles Lakers may play it safe and look to make smaller deals, if any at all, NBA insider Shams Charania reports that stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James are concerned with the team's trade strategy.

If true, that should light a fire under the Lakers front office. They seem content with adding Dorian Finney-Smith and perhaps another player, such as Washington Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas, and call and get a trade deadline.

Doing so could help the Lakers both this season by giving them more size and defensive capability. However, the Lakers holding onto their two remaining tradeable first-round picks prevents them from making the necessary upgrades to make them a contender.

With LeBron perhaps playing his final season in the NBA, it seems like an odd strategy for the Lakers to take. Particularly with Los Angeles clearly not being as good as some of the best teams in the western conference.

That means it's unlikely that they will make it out of the first round, even if they make the playoffs at all. That means the Lakers may be forced to go back to the drawing board to try and please their two best players. 

NBA Trade Rumors: The Milwaukee Bucks could soon trade for Bradley Beal.

After rumors surface that the Milwaukee Bucks were interested in Phoenix Suns star Bradley Beal, Suns insider John Gambadoro reports that Beal would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to play there. That could be a huge deal with the Suns needing to move on from Beal to facilitate a deal for Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler.

If the Bucks are willing to acquire Beal from the Suns, then that could make the Suns' ability to land Butler more realistic. Especially after they acquired three first-round picks from the Utah Jazz, giving them more firepower to move on from Beal and acquire Butler.

From the Bucks perspective, they would have to move several rotation players to land him, including Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis Jr. or Brook Lopez. It's questionable whether Beal would be an upgrade over him, with him having merely a good season but not nearly as great of a year as he had during his peak with the Washington Wizards. Nevertheless, a deal seems more likely to happen.