The Los Angeles Lakers have set their sights on a 10-year veteran, while Josh Giddey might have to soon wave goodbye to one of his key running mates at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Catch up on all of the whispers doing the rounds in the latest edition of the NBA Rumour Mill!
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LAKERS FIND $251M SOLUTION TO HORROR START?
There’s still a long, long way to go this NBA season, but the Lakers are already on the back foot having accumulated a measly two wins from their opening 11 games.
It’s not the start that 38-year-old superstar LeBron James, in his last season with the franchise, envisioned.
So, how do the Lakers give James what he wants before the season is essentially over before it even began?
A trade, of course!
But who might the Lakers go after?
Well, according to a Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes, Los Angeles could be chasing a star that’s been around the league for a decade, but still has plenty of quality left in him.
“A star player whom the Lakers are known to covet is Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal,” Haynes wrote.
“Going after the 10-year veteran would only be an option if Beal were to request a trade, a tactic he has been reluctant to exercise.”
It’s not the first time the Lakers have been linked with moving for Beal.
As recently as this off-season, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor claimed the Lakers wanted to send Russell Westbrook and two picks to the Wizards in return for Beal.
The 29-year-old inked a $AUD379 million supermax extension with Washington in July, but in the fine print of the deal is a no-trade clause, making him the only player in the NBA to have one.
It means that if Beal wants out of the Wizards, he must request it himself, but it also means he can pick and choose where he goes.
The question now becomes: would Beal want to go to the Lakers?
Lakers should keep Russ and trade AD? | 01:14
THUNDER STAR HEADED FOR EXIT AFTER GROWING ‘FRUSTRATED WITH LOSING’?
In late September this year, Oklahoma City Thunder young gun Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told The Athletic that he felt the team is “headed in the right direction” despite the losses continuing to pile up.
There’s not many better ways to showcase that belief than signing a five-year, $260 million extension, but that’s exactly what the 24-year-old did in August last year.
“Obviously we have lost more than we’d like to the last couple of years, and it’s not fun,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
“With that being said though, I know what I signed up for, and I signed a five-year extension.
“And I don’t think we’re gonna be losing for much longer, so it’s not like I signed up to lose or anything.
“I believe in this team. I believe in the players we have on this team. I think we’re headed in the right direction, and we’ll be where we want to be soon.”
However, that positivity is reportedly dwindling fast.
With a record of 4-7 this season and four defeats on the spin, Gilgeous-Alexander is starting to grow frustrated and a recent NBA championship-winning team could be ready to pounce.
“You keep hearing that Shai is frustrated with the losing, and so I think that’s the Toronto thing that we’ve all heard about with their interest in Shai this summer,” an anonymous front-office executive told The Athletic.
“But how far do (the Thunder) want to push this (tanking effort)?”
It’s an unfortunate situation given the Thunder’s first-round draft pick, Chet Holmgren was meant to turn the team’s fortunes around but went down with a season-ending foot injury before the 22/23 campaign had tipped off.
