Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily made a pair of posts on X regarding two players who have been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers lately in Klay Thompson and Jerami Grant.
Firstly, according to Irwin, the Dallas Mavericks are leading the Thompson sweepstakes currently, with the Lakers being a “pretty distant second.”
You never know until it’s done but it’s sounding like the Lakers are a pretty distant second place to Dallas to land Klay Thompson. A lot of that cautious optimism has waned significantly since yesterday.
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) June 30, 2024
Additionally, Irwin indicated in another post that the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers are in talks on a trade that would send Grant to Los Angeles.
I’m told the Lakers and Trail Blazers have been in consistent talks on a deal for Jerami Grant. I wouldn’t call it particularly imminent but the sides have definitely been active most of today.
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) June 30, 2024
NBA insider Jake Fischer also mentioned Milwaukee Bucks big man Brook Lopez as a player that the Lakers are interested in trading for. He added some more fascinating intel as well.
“League personnel with knowledge of the situation believe Thompson is the Lakers’ top target at this juncture, and Jonas Valančiūnas continues to be mentioned as a veteran center on Los Angeles’ radar,” he wrote. “The Lakers have also been exploring trade scenarios with the contracts of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent, sources said, and Brook Lopez has been one of the primary options on the Lakers’ board of hopeful acquisitions, sources said.”
Lopez and Grant are two players with vastly different skill sets, but both would help to shore up the Lakers’ depth in the frontcourt.
Grant, a power forward, has quietly been one of the better offensive players at his position for quite some time now. He has averaged more than 20 points per game while shooting better than 40 percent from deep in each of his two seasons with the Trail Blazers.
In 54 games played with Portland during the 2023-24 regular season, Grant averaged the most points per game on the team (among players who appeared in at least 50 games) with 21.0 while converting 45.1 percent of his shots from the field.
But on top of his knack for scoring the ball, Grant has also proven himself to be a solid playmaker at times. He has averaged 2.4 assists per game or more in each of his last four seasons in the NBA and tied a career-high by averaging 2.8 assists per contest last season.
Shifting gears to Lopez, he arguably is most impactful on the defensive side of the ball. He is fresh off a campaign where he averaged a whopping 2.4 blocks per contest, ranking among the NBA’s leaders in that category.
Some other Lakers buzz has also surfaced on Sunday.
“The Lakers and Mavericks are once again expected to have interest in [Spencer] Dinwiddie again as he enters free agency, league sources told HoopsHype,” wrote NBA insider Michael Scotto.
Scotto continued.
“While we’re on the topic of Lakers players, the team is interested in re-signing forward Taurean Prince, league sources told HoopsHype,” wrote Scotto.
Clearly, there is plenty for Lakers fans to monitor right now.
