NBA Trade Rumors: Chicago Bulls’ point guard on LA Lakers’ radar
The LA Lakers are trying to get their hands on any young star they can, and one of the Chicago Bulls' guards is on their radar.
Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan were all previously linked with them, but they are currently keeping tabs on Coby White. The 22-year-old guard from the University of North Carolina could be a great backup for the Lakers.
Los Angeles Times' Dan Woike wrote for Yahoo! Sports an update on the Lakers' targets:
"The Lakers could also look to acquire players via trade, with rival executives believing Chicago's Coby White could be a target."
Rival NBA executives believe the Purple and Gold want to acquire White and improve their backcourt depth.
He shot a career-high 38% from downtown last season and averaged 12.7 points per game off the bench for the Bulls. He could come off the bench for Russell Westbrook and provide shooting and hustle for the Lakers' second unit.
REPORT: “Rival executives” believe the Lakers could target Coby White in free agency.
(via @DanWoikeSports, sports.yahoo.com/russell-westbr…) https://t.co/PqevjB8esu
The executives believe Talen Horton-Tucker is not able to flourish in the Lakers' system because of his high usage rate and ball-heavy game play. LeBron James and Russell Westbrook dominate the ball. Woike continued:
"Moving Talen Horton-Tucker, a player whose ball-dominant skills are viewed by rival scouts as being redundant with the Lakers’ stars, could be a way to upgrade to suit the Lakers’ needs."
Last year the Lakers refused to trade Talen Horton-Tucker for Kyle Lowry.
Instead, they signed THT to an extension and he's averaged 9 PPG this year. https://t.co/87rIgg5alD
LA Lakers targeting long list of players this offseason
The LA Lakers are in desperate need of shooting and defense and most importantly, youth. They want to target players primarily using their taxpayer mid-level exception and reportedly have a bunch of players on their radar.
According to The Athletic's Jovan Buha, the full taxpayer mid-level exception, partial mid-level exception and also the veteran minimum are all in play, and several players are targets. He reported:
"Players the Lakers will target with their full taxpayer midlevel exception include Otto Porter Jr., Nicolas Batum, Gary Harris, T.J. Warren, Caleb Martin, Cody Martin, Mo Bamba and Danuel House Jr., according to multiple league sources."
Who could the Lakers sign in free agency tomorrow?
Some of the names to watch for the taxpayer mid-level exception, including Otto Porter Jr., Caleb and Cody Martin, Gary Harris, TJ Warren, Mo Bamba and more: theathletic.com/3386746/2022/0…
Buha added:
"Players the Lakers will be interested in for the partial midlevel exception or minimum contracts include Nemanja Bjelica, Jeremy Lamb, Jevon Carter and Juan Toscano-Anderson, according to league sources."
The LA Lakers have just eight players who are returning next season and already have a payroll of over $150 million. They need to sign whoever they can to improve the roster or else they could endure another mediocre campaign.