Lakers May Again ‘Explore’ Trade for $52 Million Sharpshooter

The Los Angeles Lakers are viewing their options at the moment and the team may soon trade for a sharpshooter. Lakers players struggled to shoot this past season and Rob Pelinka is expected to change this aspect of the game.

The Lakers have been linked to several players. Gary Trent Jr. caught their attention. LA offers Kendrick Nunn and Talen Horton-Tucker to get Trent or any other player available on the market. Nunn didn’t get a chance to make an impact and THT is pretty inconsistent. Pelinka tried really hard to keep him around and the Lakers really liked his potential. However, Horton-Tucker didn’t meet some of the expectations.

Lakers to do an attempt and trade for the sharpshooter

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, “The Lakers had called and poked around on him last year when they were dangling their Kendrick Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker and a first-round pick package throughout the league.”

This past season, Trent was averaging 18.3 points per game while hitting 41.4% of his shots. He has a potential to develop into a superstar given that he is just 23 at the moment.

Will the Lakers even try to get him?

“The pick is the key thing, if the Raptors think that pick is going to be valuable, and it might very well be, then it makes some sense. Horton-Tucker and Nunn, you assume he is going to play again and be a pretty good bargain,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “The Raptors like Horton-Tucker, remember they wanted him in the Kyle Lowry deal that fell through with the Lakers. It is hard to say what kind of future Trent is going to have there, if they’ll pay him. So if they can get assets back now, it is something to explore.”

Blake Murphy of the Raptors’ radio station claims that Trent will opt out. Trent has a player option for the 2023-24 NBA season standing at $18.5 million. If he enters the open market, he will get a nice deal.

“I think he’ll opt out, and you’re talking $20 million as a starting number for him as long as he has another solid season,” Murphy said.