The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly poised to work on a deal with the Brooklyn Nets for Kyrie Irving, but if that does not work, then they have another plan in place. According to Dave McMenamin, the Lakers will add shooters if they can’t get Kyrie.
In his appearance in the NBA today, the ESPN reporter that Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield could be their Plan B after Irving. Both players are on rebuilding teams and the LA franchise could trade for them without giving up much.
Both players should be familiar to Lakers fans as both have been linked to the franchise over the last year. Buddy Hield was very close to being a Laker last year before the team traded for Russell Westbrook.
Both Hield and Gordon are well-established shooters, the former connecting on 39.8% of his career 3-pointers while the latter was a 41.2% shooter last year. They are definitely not going to single-handedly solve all the Lakers’ issues.
The Lakers were one of the worst teams in three-point shooting last year. They were 22nd in 3-PT percentage making just 34.7 percent of their attempts from deep and they were bottom-10 (23rd) in offensive rating.
Both Gordon and Hield will probably resolve some issues, but the Lakers will have to find a way to be more engaged in the defensive end as well. They entered the free agent market, signing young player like Lonnie Walker IV to cheap deals in hope to achieve that.