Should the Lakers Trade For This Former All-NBA Center?

The Los Angeles Lakers are loading up. They had an amazing offseason, making key additions up and down the roster. Obviously, the addition of a fully healthy and in shape Luka Doncic will make the biggest difference, but their other additions were pretty ideal. 

With limited cap space and trade flexibility, the Lakers were able to snag DeAndre Ayton as their starting center and Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia to strengthen their bench. On top of that, they got these players on team-friendly deal, giving them flexibility in the future and present. 

With Ayton at starting center, Christian Koloko and Jaxson Hayes are set to take the center bench minutes. Is that good enough for a contending team? They may want some more experience at the backup center position. 

If that’s the case, one center who is reportedly on the NBA trade block could be a possible Lakers trade target. 

Supposedly, the Philadelphia 76ers are making Andre Drummond availble in trade talks. Getting a former star like Drummond to play backup behind Ayton could be a nice play for the Lakers. Unfortunately, that probably still wouldn’t be good enough. 

Right now the Lakers are relying on a very unreliable core of big men. While Drummond is a bit more of a sure thing, he probably isn’t going to move the needle much for the Lakers. Still, if Drummond ends up being a buyout candidate later in the season, the Lakers might consider him. 

With two unproven backup centers on the roster the Lakers may be looking to make a move to strengthen that position. Drummond might not be where they end up focusing their efforts, but if he falls into their lap for cheap they’ll have to consider bringing him in.