4 huge trades Lakers could make to shake up the roster

2. D'Angelo Russell and Max Christie for Dejounte Murray

Reports have recently come out that the Lakers have been looking at acquiring Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray. Like D'Angelo Russell, he made an All-Star appearance in 2022 as well as an All-Defensive Second-Team selection in 2018.

A trade for Dejounte Murray would have to include D'Angelo Russell and to match contracts throw in Max Christie. That is still too little for the Lakers to give up for someone with Murray's talent, so any available draft capital would have to be throw in there. The only unprotected picks they have are 2029 and 2031 first round picks and after that it would have to be pick swaps in 2028 and 2030.

If the Lakers wanted to do this trade they would have to wait until Jan. 9 because of the signing restrictions in Murray's contract. If this trade gets pulled off, the Lakers will lose their best point guard but get an upgrade at the position.

Murray is an All-Star-level talent. He is averaging 20.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals and has .460/.382/.833 shooting splits. He is a do-it-all player who can add new aspects to, improve their offense with his consistent shooting and the defense as an enormous upgrade over Russell.

Another reason this makes sense is that the Lakers would get someone who can be the offense. Murray is more than capable of scoring 40, but he is also a very good playmaker. Playing alongside Trae Young has hurt his assists numbers but has averaged 9.2 assists in a season.

LeBron could play off the ball a little bit more with Murray versus D'Angelo Russell. The most important thing is that the Lakers wouldn't need Murray to come off the bench. This trade does make a lot of sense for the Lakers to make that would improve their offense without their defense hindering that much. The only question is if they have enough, they're willing to trade to make it happen.