NBA Trade Deadline 2018: The 20 best players available

19. Larry Nance Jr., Los Angeles Lakers

Larry Nance Jr. isn’t the type of player a rebuilding team should look to trade. Then again, the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t your typical rebuilding team.

The Lakers haven’t hid their desire to carve out two max-contract slots by the time July 1 rolls around, ideally to sign LeBron James and Paul George in free agency. To accomplish that goal, they’d need to either trade or relinquish their free-agent rights to Julius Randle, find a taker for Jordan Clarkson and offload Luol Deng with additional sweeteners or use the stretch provision on him.

According to Wojnarowski, the Lakers “have given up hope” on their chances of finding a taker for Deng, but they have “made it clear” that Clarkson, Randle and Nance are all on the table. The 2015 No. 27 pick has played well in a reserve role for L.A. over the past two-and-a-half seasons, but this year’s No. 27 overall pick, Kyle Kuzma, has already supplanted him in the Lakers’ future plans.

Nance is only owed roughly $1.5 million this season and $2.3 million next year, so if the Lakers do decide to move him, they’ll likely package him with Randle or Clarkson to help improve their return. Such a move should set off alarm bells in Cleveland, Oklahoma City and elsewhere, as that would imply L.A. feels confident about its ability to lure George, James and/or another superstar free agent this July.

Next: 18. Greg Monroe