Lakers expected to have ‘serious interest’ in Trae Young if Hawks are open to trade

The Lakers love to go big fish hunting and Trae Young could be one of the stars they chase in the upcoming offseason.

When the Lakers held their chips at the trade deadline, it came with the explicit reasoning of going even bigger this offseason. Vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said as much publicly and while he may not have named names, the implication was the Lakers would go big fish hunting.

The playoffs will likely determine who those fish may be, but one name that’s almost certainly going to be among them is Trae Young. The Hawks’ attempt at building around Dejounte Murray and Young has failed with the team often looking better with just one of the two available this season.

While the Lakers certainly had long conversations about Murray this year, it’s Young who is the bigger fish of the two. And if the Hawks did plan on splitting the pair up, as many have suggested, the Lakers may be at the front of the line to reignite talks with Atlanta again.

In a recent piece for Bleacher Report, Eric Pincus reported that many around the league expect the Lakers to have interest in Young if he becomes available.

If the Hawks decide Young is the guard to move, the Lakers are believed to be one of the teams with serious interest. Whether he’s the right fit is debatable (he doesn’t play well off the ball, and LeBron James usually has it in his hands to end games), but the Lakers have been known to chase players that may or may not fit (Russell Westbrook).

The Lakers shouldn’t, nor do I think they would, brush off the fact that he would be a questionable fit. As Pincus notes, the last time they brushed off the fit questions, it blew up in their faces and set the franchise back multiple seasons.

But that’s not the only concern, either. As Pincus lays out, to trade for him, the team would have to include a lot of players just to make the money work in the deal. There’s also a question of being hard-capped. To avoid it, the Lakers would need to send $43 million out.

While there’s a scenario where they could only send $34.2 million out while hard-capping themselves, that wouldn’t even be possible if LeBron James returns next season on a deal north of $50 million.

Russell ($18.7 million), who plays the same position as Young, would seem to be the apparent outgoing player in any deal (perhaps to a third team if necessary), provided he opts into the final year of his contract. Getting to Young’s salary is more of a challenge without Russell. Others who might be needed (to get to $43 million) include Rui Hachimura ($17 million), Austin Reaves ($13 million), Gabe Vincent ($11 million) and Jarred Vanderbilt ($10.7 million).

The only way to trade D’Lo would be on draft night or before he makes a decision on his option. With him included, they would also have to include two of Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt.

Without him in the deal, three of them, and a bit more, would have to be included. So, basically, the Lakers would have to send out a bunch of their core for a player with a questionable fit under a big contract that will handicap how you build your team moving forward.

Sound familiar?

Obviously, the fit with Young and LeBron and Anthony Davis wouldn’t be nearly as clunky as it was with Russell Westbrook. But it wouldn’t be seamless and if the Lakers are sacrificing so much to acquire him, the fit needs to be seamless.

A lot of the decision-making for the Lakers and other teams this offseason will be determined by how the postseason plays out. But you can fully expect that any superstar that hits the trade market will be linked to the Lakers.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.