The Los Angeles Lakers have been a rumored destination for Chris Paul, but how realistic are their chances?
One of the biggest questions looming over the NBA offseason is who LeBron James and the Lakers will add to form a super team in Los Angeles?
Adding another superstar will be a herculean task, as the Lakers are strapped for cash and don’t have the kind of trade assets other teams have to win a bidding war for someone like Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal.
For what it’s worth, the Lakers have apparently shown an interest in both but the degree of seriousness is unknown.
There are free agents the Lakers could target, with both DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry noting recently that Los Angeles is on their list of teams they’d sign with this summer. Chris Paul is perhaps the biggest name floating on the free agent market, as no player available checks as many boxes as CP3 does.
He has the thirst for a ring, the Lakers need a veteran point guard, and he is one of LeBron’s banana boat buddies.
Everything lines up for Paul landing back in L.A., and finally with the Lakers, except the financials.
That might not stop the Lakers from finding a way to make it happen, however.
Writing in his newsletter, NBA insider Marc Stein called the Lakers the ‘most realistic threat’ to the Suns hopes of re-signing Paul this summer.
The reasoning: We know Paul would want to play again in Los Angeles, where his family still resides during the season, and also that he would want to play alongside James. The fact that Magic Johnson was tweeting about Paul-to-the-Lakers scenarios minutes after the Finals were over certainly won’t dissuade conspiracy theorists from believing that the Lakers are, at a minimum, exploring the options here.
Stein also points out the obvious: It’s incredibly difficult to pinpoint a pathway for the Lakers to acquire Paul this summer.
Los Angeles is in absolutely no position to match the $44 million player option Paul has, and a sign-and-trade would be extremely complicated to navigate with a contender. There’s also the moral blow the Suns may suffer if Paul forces a sign-and-trade not only out to town but to a team that could knock Phoenix out of the playoffs in 2022.
The road to resolution in Paul’s free agency is long and winding, with no clear sight of the finish line. But the Lakers have consistently start to pop up as a destination, and that’s something that cannot be taken lightly.