NBA Trade Rumors: Lakers trade D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to Nets

The Los Angeles Lakers have traded D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the New Jersey Nets for Brook Lopez and the 27th overall pick.

Wow, the NBA trades are starting to happen, with the Lakers making the first move. Many had expected that Los Angeles would be trading their young assets to Indiana for Paul George, but it looks like they’re trying to acquire another draft pick in the process.

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Los Angeles Lakers will send D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov — his poor contract, basically — to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Brook Lopez and the 27th pick in the NBA Draft.

There were reports the Lakers were looking to acquire another pick in the NBA Draft, as they wanted to find perimeter shooting and an extra defender. This all but assures that the Lakers will take Lonzo Ball in the 2017 NBA Draft, which is set to happen Thursday.

Many had wondered if Ball could fit with D’Angelo Russell, but that might no longer be a concern.

This will also have an impact with the Paul George trade talks. The Pacers were likely interested in acquiring one of the young assets from the Lakers, but with Russell out of the way, who is Los Angeles going to offer up to Indiana?

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George and Russell actually share the same agent and have wanted to play with each other. I doubt this impacts Paul George coming to Los Angeles eventually, but it might have to wait till the summer of 2018.

For now, the Lakers have added an extra pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday, shed the salary of Timofey Mozgov and have moved the point guard they drafted a few years ago. Magic Johnson and the Lakers are making the first move in a busy week of trade rumors, let’s see what follows.