Warriors could cut ties with $37.7 million sharpshooter via trade to Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers would love to add a career 40 percent three-point shooter to their roster right about now.

The Lakers are off to an excellent 3-0 start, and they have their long-term vision set on another title run. To survive the grueling gauntlet of the 82-game season and overcome the West’s loaded playoff slate, however, Los Angeles will need to add some shooting on the trade market to ease the scoring burden of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Expect the Lakers to be linked to everyone from former players like Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram to unexpected targets like Tre Mann between now and the February deadline.

Another name to keep an eye on in connection to Los Angeles is the Golden State Warriors’ nine-year veteran sharpshooter, Buddy Hield.

Hield, a career 40.1 percent shooter from downtown, is off to a hot start in 2024-25. He exploded for a team-high 27 points in 7-for-9 shooting from three in the Warriors’ second game of the season, a victory over the Jazz.

Hield brings obvious and immediate value to any NBA team, and he’s already played for five different franchises. Could the Lakers become the sixth this season?

Due to Hield’s sign-and-trade deal that brought him over to the Warriors from the Philadelphia 76ers this summer, he can’t be moved right away. For when the time comes, Los Angeles could leverage Golden State’s need for a quality big man by dangling either Jaxson Hayes or Christian Wood over to the Warriors as part of a package for Hield.

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