NBA Trade Deadline 2018: 5 teams that could really use Julius Randle

The Washington Wizards are stuck a tier below the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers in the East, desperately needing more depth and fire power to break through as a legit contender to win the conference. The inflated contracts of John Wall, Bradley Beal and now Otto Porter have made it difficult for them to find help and it’s become clear that that trio can’t climb the mountain alone.

This is a bit tricky but the Wizards could send Kelly Oubre Jr. and Chris McCullough to the Lakers in exchange for Randle, perhaps with a heavily protected pick to help seal the deal. McCullough is salary that can be jettisoned for cap space. Oubre is inexpensive and although he bears some similarities to other players on the Lakers roster, he’s more suited to play power forward than Brandon Ingram. If Los Angeles moves Randle and Larry Nance Jr. at the deadline, Oubre could be a nice fill-in.

The issue for Washington is whether they’ve be willing to gamble on Randle. He’s due for a steep raise this summer and they’d have to find some way to shed salary to make it happen. However, He gives them much more dynamic offense than Oubre Jr. and a deep playoff run could be enough to nudge both sides towards figuring out how to stay together.