NBA TODAY | Woj BREAKING Lakers will trade Austin Reaves for Dejounte Murray after losing to Suns

NBA TODAY | Woj BREAKING Lakers will trade Austin Reaves for Dejounte Murray after losing to Suns

By ESPN BET our senior Insider Adrien W neski our senior writer Brian wior the one and only Kendrick Perkins I’m Malika Andrew Zack W you will be by here in just a minute all right well we have a star seted set and the Suns and Lakers it was

A star studed night for them but as was the case for most of the games last night only one that’s after winning the inseason tournament they’ve lost 11 of their last 16 games and seven were by double digits the Lakers have dropped from sixth in the west to 10th and are

Now 4 and a half games back of sixth place and if they are not already there Kendrick Perkins how can the Lakers avoid hitting rock bottom you know what make a move make a move that’s how they could avoid it they they have two I mean when you look at

All the top teams around the Western Conference they have a third star a third playmaker and I understand we want Austin Reeds to be that guy but he’s not not providing what you need him to provide and when LeBron James don’t have it going at the point for a position who

Else can you put in place to make that team go they don’t have that I think the Lakers have reached that spot Malika because they’re now 39 games into the season they’re under 500 they’ve seen what this team can do and importantly I know that they’ve had some injuries to

Role players ad and LeBron have generally been healthy the whole way this is then those guys basically have full power starting on Monday their full roster is tradable I think you will see the Lakers move into a new phase and look to find a deal that doesn’t mean

They’re going to get one but I think they will attempt to look into trying to find a deal after Monday but is there a player that they need so I know everyone’s been talking about Zack LaVine I think his salary is a challenge I also think that the Lakers want a guy

Who can play at both ends of the court so I would think that I don’t think Zack LaVine is going to be the answer I would see I think the Lakers are keeping an eye on Deonte Murray with the Atlanta Hawks that’s not going to be a simple

Trade to pull off there’s going to it’s going to be expensive jante Murray however would give them that guard who plays at both ends and would take some of the ball he’s not a pure point guard but he could take some of the ball handling pressure uh that you know off

Off LeBron James Atlanta’s ready to trade dejon Murray they have given uh some time to the Trey young dejon Murray back court I think they’re ready to move on from it the jante Murray is the player that they’re engaged uh around the league with and they have talked to

The Lakers they’ve exchanged some ideas on a potential trade uh but they’re engaged with a lot of teams they gave up a lot for de Murray they give up two of their own first round picks a pick Swap and and a third first round pick that

They had control of they want to get some value back for him so you look at that Lakers roster uh and you see what a value do they have that can compete in the market play I think there’s lots of teams interested in him the question is

How much are they willing to give up for Murray when you’re this far out from the trade deadline usually you’re not getting people’s bests yet and so I think the Lakers are going to be in this but the there are a number of teams interested but I do think the chances of

Him moving before the deadline are very very high and let me be very very clear it’s no player out there whether it’s Zack LaVine de jonte Murray uh I don’t know the status of Demar de R Ro and all Pascal seum that’s going to help Elevate the Lakers to a title Contender that’s

Just going to help them compete in the playoffs right so it’s not going to be like it’s a player out there that they can go grab and all of a sudden they go they they’re going to become one of the favorites no I’m not saying that but

They’re in the worst position right now and they need to make something happen because the energy is bad and see what end up happening is is when you get when it’s getting close to the trade deadline right and guys hereit their name being thrown out there it’s hard to buy in

It’s hard to give an organiz an organization everything that you have I went through that when I was with the Oklahoma City Thunder right I had a heads up that hey perk you might be getting traded we had two games before that and it was hard for me to go out

There and put my all into it but you also know the reality in the NBA we can probably count on two hands the number of guys who are never really in trade talks everybody else in the league is and that’s the reality well and and and you were setting the market

Woge for for and the reality for someone like dejonte Murray I guess my question Brian is can the Lakers afford to be out bid so as W said the they got multiple first round picks they gave up multiple first round picks to acquire Deonte Murray so you would have to think that

Any negotiation with the Lakers would include the one first round pick that they have to trade um but I think the reason the Lakers I think would be willing to do something like that is that they’ve decided they’ve been playing LeBron at point guard these last handful of games and his production

Level has gone down it’s very taxing as you know perk to get out for LeBron to be out there and play point guard and his numbers have slipped a little bit and so you know they don’t have D’Angelo Russell in the starting lineup they don’t have Austin re in the starting

Lineup they’ve got LeBron the starting lineup and you look and see right there you know the way LeBron’s numbers are affected so to have another guard I think is is a priority the the Hawks did sign uh Murray to a contract extension before the season but the contract

Extension was viewed around the league as a is a reasonable extension it would not be like Zack LaVine where that would be like a contract that would be a little bit of a cumbersome so I think that there’s a number of reasons why Deon Murray fits but as W says a lot of

People might feel that way yeah and I think you talked about the draft pick it would almost edly have to be in uh a deal for dejon Murray I think the question for the Lakers if they really want an upgrade their roster are they willing to put um are they willing to

Put Reeves in a deal and I think on his contract I think there’s a sense of you they’d like to do everything they can to hold on to him because you create another hole if you do trade him and so whether it’s whether he would go to

Atlanta or whether it might be a bigger deal there’s always three and four team discussions going on I think that’s going to be the Moment of Truth for Rob hink and the Lakers at the trade deadline I think without putting uh Reeves in a deal I think it’s harder to

Get back the kind of differen maker perks talking about let’s bring Zack low into this discussion Zach as you’re listening to all this is there a move that you like the most for the Lakers I think dejonte Murray would be a great fit but I think wo just nailed it

If I’m the Atlanta Hawks I’m asking the Lakers why am I taking any deal you can offer me that doesn’t have Austin Reeves in it and if I’m the Lakers I’m saying say wait we just resigned Austin re to a great contract that’s kind of a lateral

Move for us and so then you start to think bigger and I had an executive from another team spitball with me yesterday could the Lakers if Reeves is involved construct a bigger deal where they get to jante Murray and bdon bogdanovich the Sharpshooter they so badly need now

That’s got to include ruy haimura Andor D’Angelo Russell more draft compensation Jordan Hood chafino it just starts to get super complicated particularly with the Lakers is already over the tax and near the hard cap as Bobby marks reminded me these deals the more players you add to them the harder they are to

Construct but for a player of Deonte Murray’s caliber I think the Hawks are rightfully going to say we need Austin Reeves and the Lakers are going to say oh that doesn’t seem awesome for us it’s it’s a tough tough spot cuz look I’ve said it all season their offense stinks

They’re 24th in offensive efficiency and they ain’t going anywhere as long as that’s the case they sound a little bit like they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place listen we have spent the first 10 minutes of this show talking about the losing side of this coin so

Let’s give a little love to the Phoenix Suns here Zach what stood out to you from the big three last night yeah a team won the game and a team that has about as much at stake in winning this season as the Lakers do given what they traded to build this big

Three of Durant Booker and Beal and I just want to highlight a couple of plays cuz every game now is going to be how do these three fit together on offense can they maximize their skills two plays stood out here’s KD bringing the ball up

Pass to nerk kind of a pick and roll and look what Anthony Davis has to do on this on this pitch play Drop way back kick back to nurkic this is a Draymond Green play ad or all the way back there hand off to Booker he misses an open

Three but I like it cuz they’re going to need to get threes up and this made me smile Brad Beal screening for KD which way is the screen going to go we don’t know and now KD’s got the mismatch Brad Beal rolls into open space options all over the place

That those plays are the best Phoenix players amplifying each other making things easier for each other cuz if it’s just your turn my turn mid-range twos it’s too hard even for players of that caliber to win four playoff series so just every game do we see signs of

Growth from a team that just hasn’t been good enough yet even with all three of their guys in last night signs of growth absolutely but we we we already knew that when like Phoenix when they’re when they’re clicking could be one of the best offensive teams in the league right

We know that but Kevin Durant I’ve been begging for him to be a leader right and it showed last night from jump ball from the tip off he guarded LeBron James he did what kawh Leonard did to him a couple nights ago he made it tough on

LeBron LeBron was three for 11 uh KD couple Force turnovers we saw it in the Highlight when they got in transition That was cuz KD was guarding Le tried to Quick spin the act act activity of the hands Kevin Durant has to be the leader we could beg and plead and when Devin

Book is going to take that leap if this son’s team is going to be a title Contender they have to be led by Kevin Durant and he has to do it on a night toight basis when was the last time we saw LeBron James have 10 points in a

Game the night he sprained his ankle against the Hawks a couple years ago and hit a three just to keep it alive the streak alive I thought the H I thought the um they had great Spirit the Suns last night their team had great spirit on the bench they had great spirit on

The court cheering for each other they’re working on it Frank vogle is working on his rotations trying to figure it out they’re trying to tweak their fourth quarter rotations to to get deal with that problem and most importantly I thought Bradley Beal looked great but he had an explosive

Dunk against the Clippers the other day I was at the game I was like wow he does look like that back is better he goes eight of 10 on threes I know he’s not going to do that every night obviously but he showed great um bounce in his

Step and I thought it was a great step forward for the Suns last night I I thought they were going to leave him in for 40 I really did I thought there he was going to go I think he thought so too when him out we have a lot to get to

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NBA TODAY | Woj BREAKING Lakers will trade Austin Reaves for Dejounte Murray after losing to Suns