The Los Angeles Lakers made three separate trades in the last two days before the NBA’s trade deadline, but they may not be done tweaking their roster.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Friday that they may have interest in signing 3-and-D wing Danny Green through the buyout market.
“I’m told that he would like to be waived just like John Wall is being waived, and not have to do a buyout, but Danny Green teams like Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, great interest in him,” Wojnarowski said of Green.
Green played for the Lakers during the 2019-20 season and was a major reason they won the NBA championship that year. At 6-foot-6, he can play both the 2 and 3, and he has historically been both a good 3-point shooter and excellent team defender.
The Lakers traded him during the 2020 offseason to get guard Dennis Schroder, and he spent his next two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before being sent to the Memphis Grizzlies last June. On Thursday, Green was traded to the Houston Rockers as part of a three-team trade.
The one thing that should give L.A. some hesitation regarding signing Green, if he were to become available on the buyout market is the fact that he suffered a torn ACL in last year’s playoffs. He has played just three games so far this season.
At age 35, a torn ACL is a difficult injury to come back from, and it is even more difficult for a player at his age to perform well after such an ailment.
After massively remodeling their roster over the last couple of days, the Lakers only remaining need may be a solid 3-and-D wing. They have added lots of 3-point shooting by acquiring D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba, and Bamba and Jarred Vanderbilt should greatly improve their interior defense.
But perimeter defense versus opposing star wings is still a question mark.
Green gave them just that three years ago, and if he is still physically capable of doing so, he could possibly by the final piece, at least for now, for a Lakers team that is hoping to make the playoffs and make some noise once there.
