There is a lot of fallout around the NBA from the news that Kevin Durant will be remaining with the Brooklyn Nets for the foreseeable future. After weeks of trade speculation, the two sides hashed out some of their differences and agreed that it was in the best interest of everyone to remain in a partnership and focus on winning a championship.
One of the teams who are impacted by this decision is the Los Angeles Lakers. For weeks the Lakers have been attempting to work out a trade for Nets point guard Kyrie Irving. They even made their first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 available in a trade, but the Nets still had no interest.
Now we know they weren’t interested because they were working diligently to get Durant back in the fold. Having Irving in the mix likely helped that along, causing the Lakers to now shift their focus elsewhere.
While things could change once the season starts, Irving is not heading to Los Angeles right now. But, as Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium pointed out during his recent spot on the Pat McAfee Show, the Lakers are keeping their options open.
They want to acquire anyone that will help upgrade the roster as they need some help if they are to get things back on track. Two names to keep an eye on according to Charania are Patrick Beverley and Bojan Bogdanovic of the Utah Jazz.
Bogdanovic and Beverley would both be sizable upgrades for the Lakers’ rotation. Beverley is a much better fit at the point guard position than Russell Westbrook is given his ability to knock down 3-pointers and his tenacious defense. That is the recipe for success when building a roster around LeBron James.
Bogdanovic would be an excellent complementary scoring option behind James and Anthony Davis. He is also an excellent 3-point shooter, knocking down 39.2 percent of his attempts in his career and would get plenty of wide-open looks playing off of that superstar duo.
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