How a Buddy Hield-Myles Turner Trade Makes the Lakers a Contender
Hint: Fit>>>>Talent
With Kevin Durant staying in Brooklyn, per Shams, that probably means Kyrie Irving is staying. So, let’s move on.
We can sit here and debate how good Buddy Hield and Myles Turner are in a vacuum as individual talents. Personally, I am probably lower on them than most Lakers and non-Lakers fans. There’s a reason they each have low trade value.
Buddy gets a tad overrated because he’s a tremendous shooter and Myles gets overrated because he’s an overrated shooter. Turner has also only played 89 games combined the last 2 seasons. With that said, both are solid starters who each have elite traits.
Although I think both are overrated individual talents, they would be a tremendous collective fit on the Lakers and a home run trade if all LAL gives up are Russell Westbrook, a future first round pick, and possibly a couple second rounders. If two first-rounders are given up, especially without any protections, I would be concerned, but still optimistic about the team presently if they can stay healthy (big if).
Lakers Roster As of Today
Before I dive into the impact of the potential trade, let’s examine the Lakers’ current roster.
Starters
Russell Westbrook
Austin Reaves
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Thomas Bryant
Bench
Talen Horton-Tucker
Lonnie Walker
Kendrick Nunn
Damian Jones
Troy Brown, Jr.
Stanley Johnson
Juan Toscano-Anderson
Wenyan Gabriel
Rookies/South Bay
Max Christie
Scotty Pippen, Jr.
Cole Swider
Jay Huff
Javante McCoy
Fabian White, Jr.
To put it bluntly, the supporting cast around LeBron and AD is dog shit. Your backcourt is either going to be porous defense with Russ and Nunn or have the spacing of a phone booth with Russ and either THT, Reaves, or Walker (maybe one of those three becomes an adequate shooter but that remains to be seen).
Thomas Bryant starting would mean having a defensive liability at center. Stanley or JTA starting means having a shooting liability on the wing.
The 2020 championship team and even the 2021 team did not have ideal shooting or spacing, but they had dominant defenses. This team does not have on-ball defenders like Dennis Schröder or Avery Bradley (2020 version, not 2022 version) or versatile defenders on and off the ball like Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They also lack 3ish-and-D wings like Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma, and Wesley Matthews.
Guys like THT, Walker, Reaves, Johnson, and Brown have all shown potential to be good defenders, but I don’t see the pieces fitting.
How Does Trading Westbrook for Hield and Turner Make the Lakers a Contender? 2 answers:
1. Fit
Buddy Hield is one of the greatest shooters of all time. He’s 50th all time in 3-pointers made and 54th all time in 3P% in just 6 seasons played. Putting him on the weak side of a pick-and-roll is grueling hell for a defense. He’s also great spotting up in transition and taking pull-up jumpers off the dribble coming off a screen (imagine him in the same actions KCP was in).
Myles Turner would be a much better version of what Marc Gasol was for the Lakers. The 2021 Lakers’ offense was at its best with Gasol at center because of his spacing and passing. While Turner is not nearly the passer Gasol was, he’s a more willing shooter, even if I think he’s overrated (33.8% on 4 attempts per game over the last 3 seasons). Most importantly, pulling the opposing team’s big out of the point allows much better driving lanes and finishing at the rim.
Turner is also a phenomenal rim protector, leading the league in blocks twice in his career. He can struggle to defend the perimeter, like Gasol, but I wouldn’t say he’s awful at it. LeBron and AD can help cover up for some of that and Turner is smart enough to rotate.
If healthy, I think Turner can have a career year in LA because of his fit next to the 2 stars.
2. Lineup Combinations
This is the most important one. Many of the non-stars on the Lakers’ current roster can find valuable rotations roles. None of them is bad individually. All of the minimum signings this offseason were good. While I would’ve preferred other players at the mini-MLE, Lonnie Walker at $6.5M/year is good value.
The problem is the fit and the lineups. THT, Walker, Nunn, and Reaves is a logjam with Russell Westbrook, but not with Buddy Hield because he’s an off-ball player whose shooting will give them more space to operate.
We know Russ and THT is a horrible fit. But THT and Hield is intriguing, especially because the former made some strides defensively that got lost in last season’s kerfuffle. The same goes with Walker and Hield, Nunn and Hield, and so on.
Turner can also clean up the defensive deficiencies, especially if Coach Darvin Ham uses him like how he and Coach Mike Budenholzer used Brook Lopez in drop coverage for Milwaukee. LeBron, AD, and Myles is maybe the best defensive trio in the NBA.
Furthermore, Hield and Turner allow the Lakers to play guys like Walker, THT, JTA, and Stanley more because their lack of shooting is now less of an issue and their strengths are more pronounced.
For the 5th starter next to Hield, LeBron, AD, and Turner, you can start THT or Reaves if you want on-ball defense. You can choose Walker or THT to have a complementary playmaker next to LeBron. To go all-in on shooting, Nunn can be the 5th guy.
When Coach Ham goes to other lineups, he can stagger Hield and Turner like he would with LeBron and AD keeping at least one on the floor at all times to keep the spacing consistent.
Also, leaning on the bigs of Turner, AD, Jones, Bryant, and even LeBron, Stanley, and Gabriel would make the Lakers’ guards not have to play the forward spots like last season. This allows the guards to compete on both ends against like-sized players and not be out-sized.
Summary
Overall, Buddy Hield and Myles Turner in place of Russell Westbrook both help the shooting and defense of the roster which enhances both the stars and the role players allowing all of them to play to their strengths more often. If healthy, this is a contender because LeBron and AD are that good and their starting lineup may be the best of the LeBron era in the purple and gold.
The Pacers trade would be a big win for LAL. The alternatives are trying to make it work with Russ or sending him home with maybe signing Schröder off the street, neither of which puts LAL in championship contention.
A possible trade with Utah including Mike Conley, Patrick Beverley, and Bojan Bogdanovic just doesn’t move me due to their ages. Is it better than what they have currently? Yes, but I don’t think it vaults the team into contention.
At the end of the day, a healthy LeBron and AD are a nightmare for any opponent. Our lessons from the 2020 title are that you don’t need incredible individual talent around them to win, but you need the right collective pieces to do so.
Hield and Turner would launch this team to title contention. However, none of this matters if LeBron and AD are hurt like they’ve been the last two seasons. With that said, Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss owe it to the stars to put the right talent around them just in case they are healthy. Staying put as is just won’t cut it.