The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the busiest teams in the trade deadline market and made three major trades to change the roster. According to Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, he checked in with superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis on each deal.
Pelinka said he checked in with both LeBron James and Anthony Davis on all of the moves ahead of the deadline.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) February 11, 2023
Lakers fans had been clamoring for the team to make moves for months, and the team certainly did not disappoint prior to the deadline on Feb. 9.
The first trade the Lakers finalized was a three-team deal with the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. In that deal, the Lakers netted a massive haul, landing one-time All-Star D’Angelo Russell from the Timberwolves along with Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt from the Jazz.
The Lakers then traded away big man Thomas Bryant after he requested a trade from the team, landing three second-round picks and Davon Reed in return.
The final move for the team was to send away veteran guard Patrick Beverley in return for young big man Mo Bamba.
When looking at the moves, it is not a big shock why the Lakers star duo seemingly signed off on all of them. Russell and Beasley will likely become key figures in the Lakers rotation and could easily end up becoming the team’s two starting guards.
In fact, the two have been part of a starting backcourt before, as they played together on the Wolves from 2020 to 2022.
The two were in and out of the lineup during the 2020-21 campaign, but a specific stretch (Dec. 23, 2020 to Feb. 8, 2021) offers a decent sample size of what kind of production the players can enjoy while starting alongside one another.
During that stretch, Russell averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game on 42.6 percent shooting from the field and 39.9 percent shooting from deep.
Beasley put up similarly impressive numbers, averaging 20.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game on 45.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.5 percent shooting from deep.
The Lakers will be hard to beat if Russell and Beasley can replicate that kind of joint success on the Lakers.
As for Bamba and Vanderbilt, both players add youth, athleticism and impressive overall play to an already talented Lakers frontcourt.
Though the roster is yet unproven, there is a lot to be excited about. Now, L.A. will try to dig itself out of its current 25-31 hole and advance to the playoffs. They’re currently 2.5 games back from the No. 10 spot, the final seed to advance to the play-in tournament.
