NBA Trade Rumors: 3 Kyrie Irving backup plans for Lakers

The Lakers could use the spark Terry Rozier would bring to the backcourt

Perhaps the biggest thing that Kyrie Irving would’ve brought to the table — perhaps other than a lot of attention, whether wanted or not — was his ball-handling and playmaking. So often in the current LA offense, it’s either LeBron James creating for himself or teammates but then the offense just doesn’t have someone who can replicate that role consistently.

While no one is going to say that Terry Rozier is on the same level of talent as Kyrie Irving, the Hornets guard does a lot of those things in addition to being an exceptionally streaky player who can take over a game on his own on any given night. And now, he could be a player that could be at the center of a Russell Westbrook swap.

Jake Fischer of Yahoo! recently floated the idea that Rozier could be part of the return package for the Lakers in a Westbrook trade as Charlotte has been connected to the former MVP in rumors for some time now. Rozier, meanwhile, is a plus asset on a Hornets roster that, frankly, isn’t near where it needs to be to compete and could potentially be torn down starting at the trade deadline.

Rozier has averaged 19.7 points and 4.4 assists over the past four years with Charlotte and has been a valuable commodity for the Hornets over that span. At a time of potential restructuring, though, he could be even more of an asset for this iteration of the Lakers given what they need and what they were hoping to gain from a potential Kyrie Irving trade.