The Los Angeles Lakers’ roster is starting to come together with the free agent additions of Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia.
Rob Pelinka still has more work to do if the Lakers want to contend for a championship, however, as they still need another center and some perimeter defense. Pelinka stated at the beginning of the offseason that depth on the wing was one of their top priorities.
Given their lack of available spending power in free agency, the Lakers may need to turn to the trade market to accomplish that and one name that could make sense is Andrew Wiggins of the Miami Heat.
It’s unclear what exactly the Heat are trying to accomplish this offseason, but considering they aren’t currently in the championship mix, turning a veteran like Wiggins into young players and/or assets would make sense. But according to Lakers insider Jovan Buha, their asking price in a potential Wiggins trade to the Lakers is very high:
“I don’t know if Gabe, Maxi, Shake and a first gets you Wiggins. I think they would want, I’ve reported slash shared what I’ve heard, which is that they’ve been asking for the first and Dalton, which I think is an overpay for Wiggins. And I think they also want Rui, too, because they want to remain competitive and obviously Rui is a better player than Gabe or Maxey. So I think the Miami asking price needs to drop, as I’ve said before.”
The Lakers are known to like both Hachimura and Knecht, and their 2031 first-round pick is the only one they have available to trade right now. All that being said, it’s hard to imagine the Lakers cashing in on all of those assets unless they are getting a star-level player in return and even though Wiggins would be a nice fit, he is not that.
In 60 games last season between the Heat and Golden State Warriors, Wiggins averaged 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 37.4% from 3-point range.
If Miami lowers its asking price then there could be a deal there, but short of that happening the Lakers will need to look elsewhere for wing upgrades.
Jake LaRavia excited to join Lakers
The Lakers did start to address their wing depth with the signing of Jake LaRavia, who took to social media to express his excitement to join the organization after the 23-year-old inked a two-year deal at the start of free agency.
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