Proposed Trade Has Lakers Sending 2 Veterans to Land Bulls Guard

The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked with several players, and they may soon land a Bulls guard. Anthony Davis is out due to an injury and the team needs another big man. LA has shown interest in Andre Drummond, P.J. Tucker, Hassan Whiteside, and many others. Well, it looks like the team may add more scoring over signing a center. Dan Favale of Bleacher Report says the team should send Wesley Matthews, Alfonzo McKinnie, a 2023 second-round pick, and 2024 second-round pick to the Chicago Bulls to get Garrett Temple.

“Beefing up the shooting and creation—especially during minutes without LeBron James—should be the more pressing priority. Ditto for adding another person who can be saddled with bigger-wing assignments. Garrett Temple checks two of those boxes. His 34.3 percent clip from downtown doesn’t qualify as much of an upgrade. Even if it rises in L.A. (it might!), he’s not a high-volume flamethrower. Then again, with the way Wesley Matthews has been faring from deep (27.8 percent since Jan. 15), he might actually be an improvement.”

Lakers to land talented Bulls guard

Temple is a nice scorer but he is averaging 6.5 points in his career. He is not an excellent 3-point shooter. This may be an issue. LA needs a knock-down shooter at the moment.

Temple is only shooting 34.4% from three in the 2020-21 season. This isn’t higher than the 35% the entirety of the LA team is shooting. At this point of the season, the Lakers may wait for some of their players to pick things up. Matthews is a great shooter but he struggles at the moment. Dennis Schroder has issues with his shooting, too. He was able to shoot 38.5% from three in the 2019-20 NBA season. This year, he is shooting 31.8%. LA needs him to get things going.

The front office doesn’t have much money at the moment. It’s more than obvious that the team will wait for the buyout market to get a player instead of offering a trade. Wayne Ellington is a great option for the team. Will the Lakers give him a shot?