Three buy low players to trade for before January 2020
By Alex Kouki
Buy Low on Lonzo Ball
Taking a gamble here and saying buy low on Ball.
Not a popular take, and definitely a massive risk… but the return could be fairly major.
Lonzo Ball is averaging 2 3PPG, 10.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.3 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG, and 2.7 TPG on a shocking 38% shooting percentage (on 10 attempts). His FT% is really poor but he takes less than 2 a game.
The challenge with Ball is that he is on a new team (like Richardson) but his team is horrible, and Ball himself doesn’t have a body of work to suggest that he can turn his performance around.
With just three seasons in the NBA to go on, Ball has never shot better than 41% from the field and has always averaged over 2 turnovers a game. But he has the ability to put up some very elite numbers in two categories that are hard to find consistent contributors; Assists and Steals.
What’s more, the Pelicans are shopping Jrue Holiday, which could lead to a lot more usage and playing time for Lonzo. As part of the return for trading away Anthony Davis, you can anticipate the Pelicans giving him a long hard look this season, and a lot of opportunity and playing time.
I’m not advocating you trade away a high performing player for him. Heck, with some people reporting that Ball is showing up on some of their waivers, you could probably have him for an extremely cheap price. I would look to buy low by trading away players that you won’t miss should this not pan out. Guys like Troy Brown, Kris Dunn, Alec Burkes, or Derrick Rose…
If that doesn’t do it for the current owner, the max I would probably risk (depending on team build) would be someone like PJ Washington, Gary Harris, Joe Harris, or dare I say Kendrick Nunn.