Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak confirmed that the team had trade interest heading into the league deadline. The Lakers are not making the playoffs this year and instead their focus has shifted to developing younger talent and building a roster to succeed after the Kobe Bryant era. With a slew of easy contracts on the payroll, teams are calling the Lakers for deals and Roy Hibbert might be the first player gone.
According to Steve Kyler of BasketballInsiders.com, Hibbert is the center of a lot of trade talk with the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the Feb. 18 deadline. The Lakers are reportedly hoping to target a playoff team in order to dump of the center and his expiring contract of $15.5 million. Hibbert had not done much for the Lakers this season which is why the team is desperate to deal him, but his contract means finding a trade is going to be easier said than done. Not many teams will be willing to put together a trade deal that matches the salary and meets the league's demands. The only real option would be exchanging Hibbert for David Lee in Boston who is signed to a similar deal.
Kupchak told the Los Angeles Daily News that most of the trade interest is in the team's young talent. Jordan Clarkson, D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle are all signed to contracts of low money and have the interest of plenty of teams in the league, but they are supposed to represent the future of the franchise. There have been talks of trading Randle for DeMar DeRozan, but that is unlikely to happen. The Lakers would ideally like to keep those three players on and move forward with them in 2016 while adding a big name or two to the roster.
The chances Hibbert gets traded are slim. His contract pairs with poor defense, bad shooting and slow movement. The Lakers wanted Hibbert to form a decent team with veterans like Brandon Bass and Lou Williams and that simply has not worked. Instead, Bass and Williams are splitting time off the bench and the younger talent is getting the playing time. At this point, all signs point to Hibbert staying put and exiting the Lakers at the end of the season.
Nick Young is the other player the Lakers would love to deal, but simply cannot. BleacherReport.com reports the Lakers would ideally like to move Young, but his contract will make that impossible. The Lakers might not be able to get a trade of the guard in the offseason either. If they want to move on from Young, they might have to release him.