The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly aren’t expected to pursue Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic or Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline.
In addition to that, the Utah Jazz reportedly have made young big man Walker Kessler “close to unavailable” in the trade market. It had recently been reported that the Lakers had been met with the same obstacle in trade talks for the former first-round pick.
“Yet league sources stressed over the weekend that the Lakers are not expected to join the hunt for either Vučević or Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl … while oft-suggested Lakers target Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz is believed to as close to unavailable as it gets with less than 10 days to go before the trade deadline on Feb. 6 at 3 PM ET,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote.
Recently both LeBron James and Anthony Davis seemingly made demands to the Lakers’ front office to upgrade the roster.
James appeared to call out the front office after a recent loss, saying that the Lakers have to play close to “perfect” basketball to win.
Then, Davis reiterated his desire to play the power forward spot and not center, seemingly asking for the team to trade for a big man.
However, it appears that the Lakers won’t make a move for two of the top bigs that could be available at this season’s trade deadline.
Vucevic, who is a solid offensive player and floor-spacing big, is averaging 20.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game this season while shooting 55.5 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from 3.
There’s no doubt that Vucevic would be an upgrade offensively for the Lakers, but he isn’t known for his defensive prowess.
Meanwhile, Poeltl isn’t the shooter that Vucevic is, but he is an impressive rebounder and a strong rim protector. The Raptors big man is averaging 14.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game this season.
There is still time for the Lakers to make a deal ahead of the trade deadline, but it appears that they may focus on other areas than adding a center. Los Angeles has already made one trade this season, bringing in Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton in a deal that sent guard D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn.
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