The best trades Lakers must offer Pelicans for Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III

To say that the Los Angeles Lakers have been a poor defensive team this season would be a major understatement. For the month of December, the Lakers have been essentially at the bottom of the league in terms of defensive rating, 29th to be exact, as per Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group. The Lakers’ defensive woes are largely why they’ve been linked to the New Orleans Pelicans’ Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III ahead of the trade deadline.

Either Herb Jones or Trey Murphy would strengthen the Lakers’ defense, but one of the main issues is there hasn’t been any real indication on if the Pelicans would seriously entertain a trade for either by the deadline. Not only that, but the Lakers aren’t seen as having enough assets to match what would likely be a high asking price for either.

But let’s say the Lakers decide to go all-in for either Jones, Murphy, or even both. What would a potential offer look like that would even entice the Pelicans to pull the trigger and essentially jump-start a rebuild? The following ideas assume that the Pelicans would be receptive to either or Jones or Murphy trade, and that the Lakers defensive issues would push them to make major changes.

Lakers trade for Herb Jones

While either Jones or Murphy would improve the Lakers’ defense, Jones is the All-Defensive caliber player and immediately would become the team’s best point of attack defender. Jones has also been the player who has been linked most to the Lakers between the two Pelicans wings.

Although many believe that Jones is ultimately a pipe dream for the Lakers, here’s what a potential deal could look like. The asking price from the Pelicans likely starts at multiple first round picks. Following the Luka Doncic trade and the Lakers’ desire to compete now, their future first round picks have probably lost value. And as per the Stepien Rule, the Lakers are limited in terms of which future first round picks they can trade.

The Lakers alone do not have the picks necessary in terms of what it would take to acquire Jones. If they could wrangle another team or two into the deal who could send picks to the Pelicans, that might work. But right now, either the Lakers’ 2031 or 2032 first rounds pick would be surrendered to New Orleans.

As far as players, Dalton Knecht would undoubtedly be going back to the Pelicans. Although he is one of the older second-year players, he gives the Pelicans a player with some potential to be part of a rebuild. And an expiring contract, either Gabe Vincent or Jarred Vanderbilt, would also need to be a part of any potential trade. If the Pelicans want Adou Thiero as well, an all-defensive player is worth more than a rookie with potential.

Lakers trade for Trey Murphy III

The Lakers haven’t really been mentioned in trade rumors as a potential suitor for Murphy. And Murphy differs from Jones in that Murphy has shown flashes of being a potential All-Star caliber player with explosive offense, and has the defense to go with it.

Murphy would not only improve the Lakers’ defense, he would bring another scoring option to run alongside Luka Doncic. So what would a potential Murphy trade look like? For starters, multiple first round picks would have to be involved coming back to the Pelicans. Again, the Lakers will need assistance from other teams to meet that demand.

Murphy’s contract is considerably more than Jones, so the Lakers will need to match salary. That likely means two expiring contracts between the trio of Vincent, Vanderbilt and Maxi Kleber. And that also means the Lakers probably have to give up both of Knecht and Thiero. But if Murphy truly is another All-Star talent, it’s worth the price.

Lakers trade deadline

There’s no question that the current iteration of the Lakers’ roster is not good enough to truly compete for a championship this season. The defense is just not there. When the team is fully healthy, they can manage to outscore teams to wins, but that’s not going to fly in the playoffs.

The only major problem is the Lakers don’t really possess the assets to get a deal done that would vault them into contender status in just a few months. But that doesn’t mean the Lakers shouldn’t continue to monitor the market and be prepared to jump into a potential Jones or Murphy sweepstakes.

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