Lakers To Make A Run At $80 Million Player, Says NBA Executive

The Los Angeles Lakers traded for Patrick Beverley and this won’t be the final move for the front office. According to several sources, the Lakers may go after an $80 million player. Does this make sense? Absolutely.

A Western Conference executive told Sean Deveney from Heavy.com that Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner may join the Lakers as a free agent next offseason.

“Myles Turner, he will be right in their price range and he has wanted to be there,” the exec explained. “They have tried to get to him for a couple of years, so he’s a possibility. It’s just a matter of how many years he wants. He’s still young (26) so he would be an interesting fit. But it’s one reason they don’t want to give up two picks in a deal for him — they can sign him next summer.”

Turner enters the final year of his four-year deal worth $80 million. Will he try to get a similar contract as a free agent? The Lakers could use someone who averages 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks while going 33.3% from long range this past season.

Myles Turner goes over THREE Pelicans for this putback dunk ? pic.twitter.com/PiKMPum6RT

— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 21, 2021

Lakers already showed interest in the $80 million player

The Lakers wanted to get Turner, Buddy Hield, and Westbrook for quite some time. Michael Scott from HoopsHype reported that the Pacers may motivate LA to trade a couple of first-rounders and Russ.

“It seems like the best trade the Lakers can make if they want to move Russell Westbrook and try to win this season is with Indiana for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield,” Scotto detailed on August 30. “One note that’s interesting is before the Lakers traded Talen Horton-Tucker to Utah in the Patrick Beverley trade, the Pacers were trying to get Horton-Tucker, I’m told. Essentially, Indiana was hoping to get Westbrook’s expiring contract, the Lakers’ two first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, along with Horton-Tucker for Turner, Hield and they wanted to make LA take Daniel Theis, who has some years looking ahead on his contract.”

It’s a great plan for the purple and gold. This experiment may work after all.