A Los Angeles Lakers 3-Team Trade Idea to Land Demar Derozan
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LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty Images
While the Boston Celtics locked in most of their championship core, the Philadelphia 76ers overhauled theirs and the Oklahoma City Thunder added two difference-makers to a team that just finished first in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers have had a pretty quiet offseason to this point.
Beyond the draft (and the eventual signing of second-round pick Bronny James), L.A. hasn’t really done anything. And after being in the play-in tournament in each of the last two seasons, standing still while much of the rest of the league improves isn’t going to put the Lakers in the 2025 title hunt.
The front office needs to do something, and it sounds like DeMar DeRozan may be in the mix.
The Los Angeles native wouldn’t necessarily launch the Lakers into the tier of contenders occupied by the teams listed above, but his combination of playmaking, wing size and mid-range prowess could help.
And the Lakers might have the right trade chip to make it happen as part of a three-team deal.
Editor’s note: LeBron James will sign a two-year, $104 million contract to remain with the Lakers, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal includes a player option, and James may take less than the max to potentially increase roster flexibility.
The Deal
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D’Angelo Russell and LeBron James Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
Before we get to the more in-depth explanations for why each team involved would do this, it always helps to get a good look at the entire framework.
Lakers Receive: DeMar DeRozan (via sign-and-trade), 2030 second-round pick from Pistons (via Minnesota)
Lakers Lose: D’Angelo Russell and a 2025 second-round pick (via Los Angeles)
Bulls Receive: 2025 second-round pick from Lakers (via Los Angeles) and a 2028 second-round pick from Pistons (via New York)
Bulls Lose: DeMar DeRozan (via sign-and-trade) and Torrey Craig
Pistons Receive: D’Angelo Russell and Torrey Craig
Pistons Lose: 2028 second-round pick (via New York) and a 2030 second-round pick (via Minnesota)
As always, feel free to quibble over the number of picks involved (or the years from which they come). It’s the foundation that’s most important, and we’ll explain that below.
Lakers Land DeRozan
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DeMar DeRozan Tyler Ross/NBAE via Getty Images
Lakers Receive: DeMar DeRozan (via sign-and-trade), 2030 second-round pick from Pistons (via Minnesota)
Lakers Lose: D’Angelo Russell and a 2025 second-round pick (via Los Angeles)
Right now, the Lakers could potentially have access to the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, which would allow them to sign a player to a contract with a starting salary up to $12.8 million. That’s why you’ve heard so much about LeBron James potentially taking a pay cut to keep L.A. under that line.
But the bigger pay cut in that scenario is the one DeRozan would be taking. He’s coming off a 2023-24 in which he made $28.6 million. And while there may not be any suitors willing (or able) to match that number for a post-prime mid-range scorer, L.A. can at least do a little better for him with a sign-and-trade.
If DeRozan is OK with a three-year deal worth around $50 million, and the Lakers can find a third team to take on the final year of D’Angelo Russell’s contract (since he doesn’t make much sense for the Bulls), we may have something here.
Now, some might argue, given his age, that Russell is the better bet for 2024-25, but advanced metrics lean toward DeRozan, who’s also bigger. Over the last few seasons, DeRozan’s playmaking numbers have been right around Russell’s, too. And though he’s certainly not a lockdown defender, DeRozan’s less prone to spaciness off the ball.
Bulls Don’t Lose DeRozan for Nothing
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DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vučević and Zach LaVine David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
Bulls Receive: 2025 second-round pick from Lakers (via Los Angeles) and a 2028 second-round pick from Pistons (via New York)
Bulls Lose: DeMar DeRozan (via sign-and-trade) and Torrey Craig
Bulls fans will surely scoff at this, but you have to remember that the alternative is DeRozan simply walking in free agency with Chicago getting nothing in return.
This winds up looking a lot like the return the Golden State Warriors just got in the Klay Thompson sign-and-trade with the Dallas Mavericks. Given their relative ages and accolades, that feels about right.
Torrey Craig is also involved, in part because every team has to connect to every other team involved in a multi-team trade like this, but also because the 33-year-old wing doesn’t really fit in what should be the start of a rebuild (assuming Chicago can move Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević prior to February’s trade deadline).
Pistons Add Offense
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D’Angelo Russell Juan OCampo/NBAE via Getty Images
Pistons Receive: D’Angelo Russell and Torrey Craig
Pistons Lose: 2028 second-round pick (via New York) and a 2030 second-round pick (via Minnesota)
The Pistons have been awful for years, but signing Tobias Harris would seem to signal that they at least want to be competitive. And even with his deal on the books, they still have enough spending power left over to take on the salaries of Russell and Craig.
If all it costs them is some future second-round picks, this seems like a no-brainer for Detroit.
Russell wouldn’t necessarily impede the development of Cade Cunningham. He could be a heat-check scorer and playmaker off the bench. And he and Cunningham are both big enough to conceivably play together.
And for all the criticism of Russell’s defense and shoot-first mentality over the years, he’s still a good offensive player who’d help an attack that ranked 28th last season.
Since the start of 2021-22, Russell has averaged 18.0 points, 6.5 assists and 2.8 threes in 32.4 minutes, while shooting 38.4 percent from deep.
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