3 trade packages Lakers should make for Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland

The Los Angeles Lakers opted not to make a big trade at the NBA Trade Deadline hoping they'd find better options on the table this summer. That's certainly shaping up to be the case with players like Brandon Ingram, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and more rumored to be available. However, the players who may be most interesting to the Lakers are the Cavs two guards, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

The Cavs are hoping to sign Mitchell to an extension and seem confident that they'll get it done. However, as soon as they were eliminated from the playoffs there were rumors that keeping Mitchell meant they'd have to trade Garland to keep everyone happy.

From the Lakers' perspective, that means one of these two guards is almost certain to be there for the taking. The question is whether they'd be willing to give up coveted assets like Austin Reaves or their 2029 first-round pick and whether they could pull off a trade and hold onto enough depth to remain a championship contender. Here are a few ways it could work out:

Possible Lakers' trade packages for Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell

This first variation may be the hardest needle to thread but it allows the Lakers to keep Austin Reaves who may be essential to their ongoing championship hopes. A backcourt of Reaves and Garland gives them an upgrade over what they had last year with D'Angelo Russell and makes the Garland acquisition added value for the present as much as possible.

In exchange for keeping Reaves out of the deal, the Lakers would have to pay up with future assets — last year's first-round pick, Jalen Hood-Schifino and a pair of future first-rounders. Those picks would likely be their 2029 pick and either their 2024 or 2025 pick depending on whether the Pelicans decide to keep it this year or defer to next year. The deal may be more appealing to the Cavs if the Pelicans keep the Lakers pick this year in what's perceived as a weaker draft class. In addition, the protections, or lack thereof, on the 2029 pick which will fall well after LeBron retires will be key.

Losing Hachimura will hurt but they'll have options to replace him with some other lower cost veterans, especially with Russell presumably declining his player option and coming off the books.

This variation is the flipside, the Lakers keep as many of their future assets as possible, holding onto Hood-Schifino and all of their draft picks. But in exchange, they have to part with both Reaves and Hachimura. This might be more appealing for the Cavs — letting Donovan Mitchell function as the primary creator and ball-handler with Reaves slotting next to him as a secondary creator and shooter with the size to handle some of the larger guards on defense.

The issue here for the Lakers is it depletes a lot of depth. Garland over Reaves is probably an upgrade but not a slam dunk one and they'd then need to figure out how to replace Hachimura and the rest of their depth just to get back to where they were last year.

This is the big one, landing Donovan Mitchell — a dynamic creator and offensive engine with both a higher floor and higher ceiling than Garland. Mitchell would arguably be the best player on the Lakers next season and make their starting lineup (whoever the other two players are) one of the very best in the league. The problem is that the Lakers have to give up so much depth to make it happen.

Assuming they lose D'Angelo Russell as well, the Lakers would have two spots to fill in their starting lineup and be looking at a bench of Gabe Vincent, Christian Wood, second-year wing Maxwell Lewis and potentially Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes, if they pick up their player options. That's one of the worst supporting casts in the league and the Lakers would have their work cut out for them trying to fill that group out with limited cap space.

The Lakers also wouldn't just be eroding their depth, they'd also be mortgaging their future by giving up two first-round picks including one that comes after LeBron is gone. This would be a huge gamble and there is definitely championship upside here. But they would still need a lot of other things to go right for this to work out.