Brandon Ingram (Photo : Twitter)
The LA Lakers are being tossed around in trade rumors as a team that could sell their no.2 overall pick.
Based on the latest opinions and intel on free agency, trading the no.2 pick is both unlikely and foolish for the Tinseltown team. David Aldridge of NBA.com noted that "few expect the Lakers to move the pick, after all the angst they had to go through this year to secure it."
With more and more rumors corroborating the notion that the Sixers will pick Ben Simmons, the Lakers will most likely end up with Duke Blue Devils small forward Brandon Ingram.
That's great because it fills one of their needs. If you trade the chance to get Ingram for a center like Jahlil Okafor, there are arguments that the Lakers can sign a free agent wing with their league-largest cap space, but a quick rundown of the big names will prove otherwise.
Top swingman on the market is Kevin Durant and the Lakers have as much as 24 teams to top for his services including the Oklahoma City Thunder who can offer much more money and was a game short of the NBA Finals. Even the defending champions Golden State Warriors are rivals for him.
Other names linked to the Lakers like DeMar DeRozan and Nic Batum have already expressed their intention to stay with their mother teams.
DeMar DeRozan frankly debunked the Lakers rumors that have been raging for months and with the success of his team, few could question his logic.
"I don't think so (on leaving Raptors to go to LA)," DeRozan told ESPN. "My mindset has always been Toronto. I've always preached it. I was passionate about it when we were losing, when we were terrible. I said I was going to stick through this whole thing, and I want to be that guy who brings this organization to where it is now. I definitely don't want to switch that up after we win."
Nic Batum is a versatile swingman who can also run the play. His maturity was key to the Charlotte Hornets' success and that's why he's not leaving. He wants to negotiate with the Hornets' quickly so he can play for France in the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers. With Charlotte also expressing Batum as "top priority," this is an easy dot to connect.
Another top name is Harrison Barnes. After the Luke Walton hire, Lakers fans were hoping that he could also bring Barnes in. However, that decision belongs to the Golden State Warriors management because Barnes is a restricted free agent.
There is also another factor in this equation-the Warriors are maxed out and they can only use Bird Rights to sign their own players-which means that if they let Barnes walk, they would not be able to replace him with someone else. If they match an offer for Barnes using Bird Rights, they would keep Barnes and still be able to offer Steph Curry the max. Thus, the Warriors have nothing to lose in matching an offer for Barnes, and nothing to gain by letting him walk.
Are there other swingmen in the open market better than Brandon Ingram? Chandler Parsons has injury history and Dallas is inclined to fight for him. There's Kent Bazemore, but Ingram's upside is higher than what he is now.
The Lakers are better off pursuing a center (their other position of need) where Hassan Whiteside and Bismack Biyombo are "Bird Rights-free" which means even their incumbent teams need cap space to sign them. Both the Heat and Raptors don't have too much cap space and has bigger free agents to settle (Dwyane Wade and DeRozan).
