The Los Angeles Lakers need to find a big man to pair with Luka Doncic, and who better than someone the team already knows plays well alongside him?
That was the logic behind a trade proposal from ESPN’s Tim McMahon on the Friday, May 2 edition of the “Brian Windhorst & the Hoop Collective” podcast, when McMahon suggested the Lakers pursue a second consecutive deal with the Dallas Mavericks after trading Anthony Davis for Doncic back in February.
“The Mavericks kind of quietly sniffed around about the value of Daniel Gafford before this last deadline. It certainly would make sense for them to do that again this summer,” McMahon said. “Derek Lively is a year away from getting an extension. Gafford is entering the final year of his contract. Gafford reasonably and rightfully is going to want to get paid starting center money. You can’t have [Davis] on a max, Lively on a big contract and pay Gafford.”
Center Daniel Gafford of the Dallas Mavericks.
McMahon went on to suggest the basic outline of a potential trade package Los Angeles could offer Dallas for the athletic big man, who could provide Doncic with a lob threat and anchor the Lakers’ defense as a rim-protecter in the front court.
“Luka’s obviously got chemistry with Gafford,” McMahon continued. “I could put something together that would at least, I think, be intriguing for the Mavericks. Rui [Hachimura] and the [first-round] pick that they’ve got to give up, [plus] a swap or two.”
That deal, or something similar to it, would all but clean out the Lakers’ cache of trade assets, unless the team decided to put a player like Austin Reaves on the table.
However, president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka named Reaves, along with Doncic and LeBron James. as a franchise pillar in his end-of-season press conference, essentially dubbing Reaves as untouchable. But Doncic is extension-eligible this summer, so circumstances could potentially change if Los Angeles believes it has to make a drastic move or two to secure his longterm future with the franchise.