The Los Angeles Lakers are making moves. As the team begins preparations for life after Kobe Bryant, they have been hoarding draft picks and assets to make some serious moves and it all starts this offseason with the NBA Draft just a few hours away. The Lakers lucked out during the draft lottery scoring the No.2 pick which has officially opened up a number of trades for the team and they are trying to take advantage.
According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers have placed the ground work for a trade of DeMarcus Cousins before the NBA Draft. The reports surrounding Cousins are inconsistent as one source says the Sacramento Kings and George Karl are trying to trade the center while other reports say the Kings are ready to build around Cousins and use him to attract other free agents. Regardless, the Lakers are still believing a deal can be made before the draft Thursday night.
Wojnarowski is reporting the Lakers have offered a trade package that includes last year's first-round pick Julius Randle, second-year point guard Jordan Clarkson and the No,.2 pick in the draft. The Kings would likely have to unload someone like Carl Landry along with Cousins to make the deal fit league standards. Wojnarowski writes that the Lakers did not want to include Randle in the trade, but the Kings would only accept that package.
The Lakers appear to favor the experience of Cousins over the idea of drafting Jahlil Okafor. ESPN's Chad Ford has the Lakers selecting the Duke center No.2 overall, but that idea would go out the window if the Lakers deal the pick away. Instead, their focus would not be on getting a big man, but finding an elite point guard to round things out for the roster. Losing Clarkson would mean the Lakers have no one that could realistically start at the position on opening night.
The Lakers would still have enough salary cap space to acquire someone like Rajon Rondo or Goran Dragic who will both be available. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Patrick Beverley could also be in play as well or deals for someone like Ty Lawson or Brandon Jennings. Bryant has been vocal about his desire to play with Rondo while the point guard's friendship with Cousins could help as well. The Lakers could put together a nice roster with that pairing.
For what it is worth, Cousins is making it clear that he still wants to play for the Kings regardless of all the rumors flying around. It was originally reported that the trade talk started because he and Karl were not getting along. Cousins took to Twitter to make it clear that he still wants to play for Sacramento as fans question where his loyalty is. Cousins is wise to keep that mentality in the public eye in order to help things out if a trade is not complete.