6 non-star trades Lakers can make to contend

Non-star trades Lakers can make to contend No. 2: Malcolm Brogdon 

Malcolm Brogdon has been excellent for the Portland Trail Blazers this season. He’s shooting 41.4 percent from 3-point range and sporting a 5.4 to 1.4 assist-to-turnover-ratio. Inserting him into the Lakers starting lineup as the steady veteran point guard will do wonders for their offense. With LeBron James capable of handling a significant playmaking responsibility and Anthony Davis’ finishing ability, all the Lakers need their point guard to do is compete on defense, keep the offense ticking, and hit open shots, which are all easy asks Brogdon.

Another benefit of targeting Brogdon is his contract has one more year left on it at $22.5 million. The Lakers need to compete now, but also can’t completely forget about their future. Brogdon doesn’t have long-term value, but his salary could be useful in a star trade over the offseason if one becomes available. 

 Trail Blazer fans will likely be disappointed in not landing a draft pick for Brogdon, but the market for players of his quality rarely nets teams' premium picks. D’Angelo Russell is a fine stop-gap solution at point guard, but he’ll be a candidate to be moved as soon as he joins the Blazers. The real prize is Jalen Hood-Schifino. 

Hood-Schfinio has struggled in his limited NBA minutes, but he was the 17th overall pick in the draft for a reason. He has good size and excellent length (6’10 wingspan) at the guard position and would be a perfect fit next to Scoot Henderson. He projects to be a tough point-of-attack defender, can handle some playmaking and scoring duties, and his biggest weakness, a lack of NBA-level athleticism, is less of an issue next to Henderson. Long-term, if his 3-point shooting develops, he could be an above-average starting guard or an excellent rotation piece for the Blazers’ young core.