It seems to be agreed by many people that the Los Angeles Lakers, despite their excellent 17-7 record, need one or two more complementary pieces if they are to seriously contend for this season’s NBA championship.
It has been a little while — five years, to be exact — since they last won the championship, and since then, there has been lots of roster turnover. Many feel the team has made plenty of questionable or bad roster moves since then, and fans have wanted it to go after a few specific players, but to no avail.
One target who has been on the wish list of plenty of Lakers fans is Buddy Hield, the sharpshooting guard who is currently a member of the Golden State Warriors, and he is someone the franchise reportedly had interest in a few years ago. With former Lakers superstar center Anthony Davis rumored to possibly be on the move again in the near future, ESPN put together a monster four-team trade that would send Davis to the Warriors and Hield to the Lakers, with Los Angeles giving up Dalton Knecht and Maxi Kleber, plus cash considerations.
“Davis would be the rim threat as a roll man the Warriors have long sought,” wrote Kevin Pelton. “They could also save money this season by structuring this as a multiteam deal, sending Hield to a third team. In this case, he goes to the rival Lakers to supply the shooting threat they need.”
One thing L.A. currently lacks is 3-point shooting. While it is second in overall field-goal percentage, it is 17th in 3-point accuracy and 24th in 3-point attempts per game. Hield has a career mark of 39.5% on 7.4 3-point attempts per game.
However, so far this season, he’s at just 30.5% from downtown and 40.4% overall. In addition, he’s regarded as a somewhat weak defender, and with him turning 33 years of age on Dec. 17, he isn’t particularly speedy or athletic.
The Lakers don’t exactly have a lot of attractive trade assets, so they will need to use them wisely if they are to successfully level up for a true run at the world title this spring and summer.
