The NBA trade rumors continue as the Los Angeles Lakers look towards the future during the Kobe Bryant farewell tour.
The Lakers were left with very few options in 2013 when Dwight Howard chose to leave the city. They did not have cap room to chase free agents and had to scoop up players willing to take barely the minimum.
One of those players was Nick Young, aka "Swaggy P" who was already quite a journeyman. At first, his scoring and personality seemed to jive in Tinseltown, but eventually, he did unravel as a low-efficiency player.
Thus, it became inevitable that the Lakers wanted to trade him. It was also not surprising that GM Mitch Kupchak found the task rather difficult.
Yet, Zach Lowe of Grantland made a prediction that the Lakers would be able to trade him. Lowe admitted that "Young is a punch line," but not all the teams are tanking or seeking cap space and "his $5.3 million-per-year deal will look teensy as the cap leaps." He's playing slightly better this season, and Lowe concluded that he "might be able to play a role on a good team that can reach him."
Enter the Detroit Pistons. This team has emerged from the East behind the combination of Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond-two players that are making the most of breaking free from teammates' shadows (Greg Monroe for Drummond, Russell Westbrook for Jackson). Will the Pistons provide an avenue to showcase Swaggy P, too?
It was discussed in forum in Real GM that Nick Young's nature as a fearless shooter would actually benefit the team. User 'todd3' shared this insight.
"He would bring shooting to the starting lineup, which is everything we need. It would allow Morris or KCP to come off the bench and make that unit stronger too. Considering it sounds like he could be had for nothing but (expiring) contracts and his own contract is cheap, there are more positives than negatives in my opinion."
A combination of Steve Blake and Anthony Tolliver's contracts would probably be acceptable to the Lakers. The Pistons could get the shooter that they want, and they can gamble on that as they have the league's best rebounder in Drummond.