Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 You are listening to an episode of The Stinger on the All Hornets Podcast Network, one podcast
00:06 feed with multiple shows, making sure we cover the Charlotte Hornets from every single angle.
00:11 If you like what you hear, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, leave us a five-star review.
00:16 The All Hornets Podcast Network is affiliated with the Fans First Sports Podcast Group.
00:21 On today's show, I am joined by Jacob Rude of Silver Screen and Roll, the Lakers SB Nation
00:27 page, a former guest, Jacob, who once covered the Charlotte Hornets and the Ball Brothers
00:33 a little bit, now working for the Lakers, covering the Lakers.
00:37 Jacob, welcome back.
00:38 Yeah, happy to be back.
00:41 Still pay a bit of attention to the Hornets, but it's been some rough viewing at times
00:46 this year, but always excited to talk NBA basketball.
00:51 Absolutely.
00:52 On today's show, the theme is obviously mock trade talks, and I sent out a tweet to my
00:56 followers saying, "We're doing mock trade talk episodes.
00:59 Which teams are you most interested to hear from?"
01:02 I think the Heat and the Lakers were the answers I got most.
01:06 I set about, I found people to do the podcast, and we're here now to talk.
01:11 Now, when I did that, interestingly, one of the hot names for the Lakers was Terry Rozier,
01:16 who has now been traded to the Miami Heat, but he was a person also linked to the Lakers,
01:22 who are also interested in DeJounte Murray.
01:25 We'll get more into that later.
01:26 But, Jacob, when you saw those Rozier trade rumors appearing before he was dealt to Miami,
01:33 what would you think the Lakers would be offering?
01:36 What sort of package could the Hornets maybe have expected to receive from the Lakers on
01:41 Terry Rozier?
01:44 The big name, obviously, the Lakers have been, or certainly at the time we're shopping, was
01:50 D'Angelo Russell.
01:53 He has an option for next season.
01:57 It would have been a little bit of a different situation than with Lowry, because I don't
02:00 know that ... I mean, there wouldn't be a buyout option there.
02:04 With D'Lo having a player option, obviously with Lomelo already there, it would have been
02:10 interesting to see if they would have kept him, tried to flip him.
02:16 I think they could have maybe played together.
02:19 It would have been interesting, but then again, how much do you want to stunt any of that
02:24 growth for Lomelo by having him off the ball?
02:27 It would have been probably something around D'Angelo Russell and a pick.
02:33 I guess my question would have been how much of an upgrade was Rozier over D'Lo.
02:40 I think from a play style standpoint, it would have been different, which maybe that alone
02:44 would have helped the Lakers just because they were stuck in a rut there for a while
02:49 and they just needed to chain some things up.
02:53 It seems like they maybe worked their way out of that rut, but my guess would be it
02:59 had been probably D'Angelo Russell and maybe a pick, a first round pick, which is basically
03:06 what you got with Kyle Lowry and a pick.
03:09 It just would have been D'Angelo, you couldn't buy out or anything.
03:15 If you're confident, maybe you could flip him for something again.
03:19 Maybe that would have been more enticing, but I don't know that the Lakers were going
03:22 to do much more than that in a trade package.
03:25 That first would have been, would that be the 2029 first?
03:29 Yeah, that'd be the next one that they have available right now.
03:33 They're actually in a weird situation.
03:35 They'll have more available at the NBA draft because right now the Pelicans can decide
03:42 whether they have the Lakers pick this year or next year.
03:47 That's putting a big hold on what the Lakers can trade because of the Stepien rule and
03:53 not knowing what pick that they don't have right now, basically.
03:57 There's a big hold all the way out to 2029 on the Lakers draft pick.
04:02 From draft night, I would assume there'll be more rumors for the Lakers because they
04:06 will have up to three picks they can trade.
04:10 Right now, 2029 is the closest first round pick they can trade.
04:14 It's interesting.
04:16 If you were to tell me right now it's the 2029 pack and D'Angelo, I don't know what
04:24 ... Assuming if there's no protections on the '29 pick, I think I'd go with that because
04:29 I think the Miami pick and the Lakers pick is probably of equivalent value almost.
04:34 Then I think D'Lo has more value than Kyle Lowry.
04:37 We'll wait and see here.
04:39 There might be another move which Kyle Lowry can be part of.
04:43 I think Kyle Lowry is duplicative really in terms of value when you already have a 30
04:47 million expiring contract and Gordon Hayward on the team.
04:50 It's not like all of a sudden you've now got this expiring trade ship that you didn't have
04:54 before.
04:57 That's interesting.
04:58 I would have thought maybe with D'Lo in it would be second, not a first.
05:03 That's interesting to be aware of, but we won't dwell on that too much looking backwards.
05:08 We want to look forwards.
05:09 I sent you a couple of trades ahead of time for you to have a look at.
05:15 I know you wanted to chat about PJ Washington as well as a name with the Lakers have an
05:19 interest in.
05:20 I guess I will open it to you, Jacob.
05:22 Where would you like to start out the two deals that I sent you?
05:26 The one that was this Dejounte Murray one seems maybe the more likely just because of
05:33 the Hawks eagerness to not take D'Angelo Russell.
05:37 Yeah, we can start there.
05:40 There have been reports essentially saying that the Lakers and Hawks are looking for
05:44 13 to take D'Angelo Russell because the Hawks did not want to take them, which is interesting.
05:51 The Hornets can play that role.
05:54 The trade I suggested and sent to Jacob was that the Lakers get Dejounte Murray.
05:58 The Hawks receive Kyle Lowry, Jalen Hudshufino and a 2029 first round pick.
06:04 So that's kind of the two first round pick criteria that the Hawks have been looking
06:10 for if you count Hudshufino as that.
06:13 And then the Hornets essentially take on D'Angelo Russell as that third team, Patty Mills from
06:18 the Hawks to make the money work and two second round picks from the Lakers essentially to
06:22 facilitate the trade.
06:23 So the Lakers are moving out here.
06:26 D'Lo, Hudshufino, two seconds and a first for Dejounte Murray, who's locked in for five
06:31 years, which is probably a good thing from the Lakers point of view, because they will
06:34 not have many of their assets going forward.
06:40 Now since we kind of we talked about this, you were talking a little bit about you, you
06:44 mentioned to me just before we started recording, you think D'Angelo Russell may have actually
06:49 played himself out of trade talks right now.
06:52 Can you talk a little bit about that?
06:54 Yeah, I mean, it was a report that came out this weekend.
07:00 I think it was actually before the Warriors game on Saturday night, which was a wild one.
07:06 I saw that one.
07:09 Mark Stein said basically the Lakers are the Lakers and Hawks even before that had stopped
07:16 talking and that it seemed maybe unrealistic at this point that they would land Dejounte
07:26 Murray because of a number of things, but one of those being that D'Angelo Russell is
07:31 playing incredibly well.
07:33 I don't think it's a stretch right now to say it might be the best month of basketball
07:38 he's played.
07:40 And he was an all-star at one point.
07:42 So he's in the month of January has been remarkable for the Lakers.
07:48 And as I said, that Warriors game, he had a big game.
07:52 He had an adventurous game, but it certainly ended with a good game.
07:56 And yeah, this month he's averaging 23.9.
08:00 He's shooting 50% from three on 94 tips.
08:03 Like he is a fire breather from three right now.
08:07 So it kind of has the Lakers in this weird position when they started these trade talks.
08:12 Maybe not started, but when they kind of picked up steam, it was late December.
08:18 December was an awful month for D'Angelo.
08:20 He had a really bad slump.
08:22 It carried over into January.
08:24 He was injured at the very beginning of the month.
08:26 And then kind of the early stages of January, I think everyone was fine with the idea of
08:34 maybe moving on from D'Angelo.
08:37 This two and a half, three weeks now at this point where he's been unbelievable, it certainly
08:45 has kind of changed things.
08:46 There's always the dynamic of, is this just a hot streak?
08:52 How much of this is sustainable?
08:54 But for the Lakers, there was already kind of the, I guess some of the complications
09:01 of with the Hawks.
09:02 It wasn't a straightforward deal.
09:04 They were already going to have to find a third team like we'll talk about.
09:08 And so I think with the Lakers, there is some thought that maybe we just stay put.
09:13 They also are, there were reports that they might go bigger star chasing in the summer
09:18 when they have those draft picks available that I mentioned.
09:22 They'll have up to three draft picks and the names were Donovan Mitchell or Trey Young
09:26 maybe that they might go after Dave McMinniman at ESPN reported that.
09:31 So there might be a belief to just kind of hold Pat, hope that D'Lo stays red hot and
09:40 reassess things come this summer.
09:42 But it certainly seems like right now the DeJounte Murray trade talks have died down,
09:48 but that can change in a heartbeat.
09:50 Honestly, referencing that double overtime game of D'Lo missed that shot and double overtime,
09:55 that wild three pointer that he put up in double overtime, he might already be in Atlanta.
10:00 So things can switch on a dime at times during the kind of the trade deadline season.
10:08 And there's still two more weeks that things could happen.
10:10 But I would say the temperature right now is it doesn't feel like there will be a DeJounte
10:17 Murray trade, which is quite a change from even maybe as recently as a week, week and
10:22 a half ago.
10:24 Yeah.
10:25 If those talks were picked up again, right.
10:28 Let's just say for whatever reason, Atlanta is asking price drops.
10:32 I don't know.
10:34 Do you think the deal laid out would be one that would work from a Lakers horse perspective?
10:41 I'm sure you will see a lot of theories thrown around around who the third team could be.
10:46 Like do you think the Hornets make some sense as that partner, if that were to gather steam
10:50 again?
10:51 Yeah, that was one of the things I thought when the Hornets made the deal that it kind
10:57 of opened them up to made the Terry Rozier deal, I should say, to kind of open them up
11:01 to being that third team in some trade now, or maybe not even the third team, just being
11:06 a team to take on a big contract for assets or something.
11:12 But for a Lakers perspective, that's what kind of caught my attention is the Lakers
11:16 are looking for a third team.
11:18 It makes sense for the Hornets to potentially be that team kind of in asset acquiring mode.
11:26 D'Lo is interesting because I think you could flip him.
11:34 He's such a...
11:35 Here's the question I had about D'Lo.
11:37 He's a player option for next year, right?
11:40 Yeah.
11:41 Do you think D'Lo, if he were to be traded to Charlotte, would he exercise that player
11:47 option or do you think he is opting out and like one, he could probably get paid more
11:51 in the open market and two, he wouldn't have to be in a bad situation like Charlotte.
11:55 That kind of almost feels more likely than him opting in.
11:59 That would probably make sense.
12:02 I do think at this point, considering what he's done this month, that he certainly has
12:08 secured himself probably more money on the open market whenever that was.
12:13 It's at 17.3 right now for the listeners, for you who might not know.
12:17 Yeah.
12:18 18.6 next year.
12:19 So yeah, I think he's secured himself that the kind of, I don't want to say problem necessarily
12:26 because D'Lo is very good, but I also think there is, everyone kind of knows the ceiling
12:31 on him at this point.
12:33 And I don't know how deep you can go in the playoffs with him as your kind of starting
12:40 point guard.
12:41 It depends obviously on situations and things like that.
12:46 I mean, he can, I think safely get more than that.
12:49 So maybe it would be a bit of a gamble maybe in some regards for the Hornets, if they really
12:55 think he's just going to opt out.
12:57 But I also wouldn't be surprised if he did opt out and try to go back to a winning team,
13:03 a winning situation or a competing team at least.
13:07 So it would be an interesting move for the Hornets just to see what their thought is
13:12 on whether he would stay or go or anything like that.
13:15 Yeah.
13:16 Okay.
13:17 Moving on to the other trade I sent you.
13:19 This one was a little bit more out of left field.
13:21 I kind of, I hadn't thought about this until I started looking at it.
13:25 I was like, actually, I can see some argument for it.
13:28 And this is a Myles Bridger's Lakers trade.
13:31 And the main reason I looked at it is because Myles Bridger agent is Klutch.
13:37 It is well known that during his year out from the NBA that he spent a lot of that time
13:41 in LA in a house that Klutch put on.
13:45 And we know how tightly Klutch are associated with the Lakers.
13:49 So it got me thinking of that connection there.
13:53 And I put forward here a Myles Bridger's and Frank Nilokina for Jackson Hayes, a salary
13:58 filler, Jalen Hudshufino and the 2029 first round pick top 10 protected.
14:04 Now the fact you went to the other trade first, obviously you thought that was a little bit
14:08 more realistic.
14:09 Now obviously the off the court stuff could absolutely be a reason that any single team
14:15 would not want to make a trade for Myles Bridger's.
14:18 Completely understand like that's probably like hard for any analyst to say what team
14:22 would and wouldn't do that.
14:23 But if we park that to side for one right now, because we can't tell that.
14:28 What do you think of this in terms of a value?
14:31 Obviously it's again like a 1.5 first round picks in some ways with that Hudshufino included,
14:37 but you are getting someone in Myles Bridger's who would be a good fit for this Lakers team.
14:42 Probably maybe on par, maybe just below DeJounte Murray level.
14:48 Yeah, so the reason I wasn't as certain about this is mainly because Bridger's can be a
14:55 free agent this summer.
14:56 And I know that there is some ability for him to get paid and things like that.
15:01 I'm not sure exactly how much he can get paid and stuff like that, but I just thought it
15:08 was maybe too much to give up for somebody that might walk.
15:12 Now that being said, as you were referencing, there's been a lot of ties to the Lakers and
15:17 whether it was how much he spent in LA last year.
15:22 I think he was at the Lakers Pistons game in, I was going to say Staples Center, crypto.com
15:27 arena.
15:28 And I mean, there's been multiple times the Lakers have had interest in him.
15:34 I think most recent was when he was out of the league suspended and it was a report basically
15:41 if the Hornets let him walk, the Lakers would be interested.
15:44 So there certainly is interest there.
15:48 The only thing that I kind of wasn't certain about is the value there just because I don't
15:53 know and you might know this better.
15:56 I'm not sure just if he's traded, how much can he even be offered basically.
16:03 No team would retain his bird rights.
16:06 So you have to have cap space to sign him or sign him to a mid-level exception, which
16:09 I think he'll be looking for more money than.
16:13 But he can be paid up to, I believe 36 million per year is like his max.
16:18 I've been using kind of like the Jeremy Grant contract as like a ballpark figure.
16:23 He was apparently looking for north of 25 million last summer in contract negotiations.
16:30 And for me, he is now in a stronger negotiating position because he's come back and he's played.
16:35 Like there was always question of what do you look like, blah, blah, blah.
16:38 He's back now.
16:40 So again, I don't think the Lakers, I presume they will not be forecast to have cap space
16:45 this summer.
16:46 So that would mean that for LA it would be a strict rental.
16:49 Is that right?
16:50 Yeah.
16:51 I mean, they, they use the mid-level on Gabe Vincent.
16:54 So yeah, it would be a straight rental.
16:56 Yeah.
16:57 In that case, you can't give up that level of value in terms of what I put in the trade
17:01 in terms of a future first for rental.
17:03 So no, I think that's, that makes a lot of sense.
17:06 That makes a lot of sense.
17:07 And unless obviously like other big moves were made that freed up cap space, but I don't
17:11 see any easy route for that for LA.
17:14 Yeah.
17:15 It, it, it just kind of one of those things that might be interesting to keep an eye on
17:18 just because there is ties between bridges and the Lakers.
17:23 I don't, I don't know that anything would happen cause yeah, it would be a rental, but
17:29 there's been smoke there for a while.
17:32 Yeah.
17:33 Okay.
17:34 And let's move on to the final guy to discuss really PJ Washington.
17:36 It's a name that you brought up as someone the Lake has reportedly shown interest in
17:42 PJ Washington is on a three year 70, well, 16.8 this year, but it's actually declining,
17:49 which is always music to every contending teams is just coming off a 43 point game.
17:55 Yeah.
17:56 Miraculous.
17:57 He said three 40 plus point games in the last two seasons.
18:01 You know, the most, I think I saw he was the most points in the NBA coming off the bench
18:05 shooting over 75% from the field since like 1983 or something of that nature.
18:12 He is truly a strange, inconsistent player who can get very hot, but obviously it would
18:19 bring spacing to a LA team that desperately needs it.
18:24 And has struggled with spacing and offense and scoring in general this year.
18:29 What do you think the Lakers would be willing to part with for a PJ Washington edition?
18:34 Yeah, that wouldn't be more interesting because I think obviously he's under contract longer.
18:40 I know the Lakers were linked to him.
18:42 I pulled it up back in December of 2022.
18:47 And I know there's been links there.
18:49 I want to say a couple of times, but I think we talked about PJ Washington trade the last
18:54 time you came on.
18:55 I think that was one of our topics.
18:56 Yeah.
18:57 And maybe it was simply that, that I remember as well, but there, there have been just kind
19:02 of the links there again, kind of that smoke.
19:05 And he's under contract a little bit longer.
19:10 What would the Lakers give up?
19:11 It would be interesting there from like a salary standpoint.
19:16 It's not easy as you were saying before we went on to, to kind of work out a deal.
19:21 It would probably have to be around like a Rui Hachimura or if DLO was involved some
19:28 way or something like that.
19:30 Maybe it's a really big three team deal that gets really chaotic.
19:34 I'm not sure, but I, it would be something like that.
19:38 It's not, it's not really clear cut or anything like that, but I think they'd be willing to
19:43 certainly give up more assets in that one.
19:47 Jalen Huchifino, a pick, and maybe that's something that is explored more this summer
19:53 when they have more assets, more draft picks to potentially move once they have kind of
19:58 a clearer idea of what their kind of future looks like with draft picks.
20:04 But PJ has always been someone really interesting, as you said, kind of fascinating, inconsistent.
20:11 When the highs are high, they're awesome.
20:15 But then you have the kind of the low lows.
20:17 I always thought him and AD would be a really good fit next to one another and his ability
20:24 to space the floor and also play small ball center is something the Lakers really haven't
20:32 had that type of guy.
20:34 I was trying to think back.
20:35 Christian Wood is kind of that right now, but they haven't really had a guy who can
20:41 play next to AD or without AD.
20:45 And so PJ is a version of that that I think makes sense.
20:51 And so at the trade deadline, I mean, there hasn't really been anything.
20:55 It's hard to imagine something coming up out of nothing.
21:00 And like we said, things are it's kind of hard to find that path right now.
21:04 But it is interesting.
21:06 It's someone I've always kind of kept an eye on.
21:09 It's someone the Lakers have been at one point linked to.
21:14 And so it might be a name worth monitoring maybe into the summer when they if there are
21:21 bigger moves or more shake up the Lakers look to make this summer.
21:26 I mean, let's just start with a a really hatching more for PJ Washington trade from a Lakers
21:33 standpoint.
21:35 What would you think of that?
21:39 That's interesting.
21:40 Just straight up.
21:41 I would be really about to play it, I guess is the question.
21:47 Rui's been disappointing this season.
21:50 Now, a lot of that has been injuries.
21:54 But Rui also showed for I've been trying to think how many playoff games the Lakers played
22:00 last year, 16 ish games that he can be a guy that you can rely on in those really big moments.
22:07 PJ could be that they you haven't gotten you haven't seen him in the playoffs.
22:13 So potentially could be that.
22:17 I think more than anything, it would just come down to maybe fit.
22:22 Rui's kind of been in an odd fit because he doesn't quite have the foot speed to play
22:29 as like a three next to LeBron and AD.
22:32 He gets exposed a little bit defensively.
22:36 Maybe PJ is better fit in that regard.
22:40 He certainly would help issues with like a as like a backup center, which the Lakers
22:45 have had issues with.
22:49 I don't hate it as just kind of a straight swap.
22:53 I think Rui has value once he gets healthy, and he's someone that really blossomed a lot
23:01 last season.
23:02 He's kind of been under LeBron's tutelage this year.
23:04 And there's been moments more than anything, he keeps getting hurt.
23:08 And so I wouldn't hate it as just a straight swap.
23:12 It would be interesting to see how PJ would fit.
23:18 But I'm not sure it would be.
23:22 I don't know.
23:23 That's an interesting I just didn't I didn't think about it.
23:26 It's just a straight challenge trade.
23:27 Right?
23:28 I mean, yeah, I didn't think it makes much sense from Charlotte's point of view.
23:32 I think if they're moving PJ Washington at the deadline, they're probably wanting to
23:36 try and get future assets back and not clog up the salary cap sheet going forward.
23:41 But I mean, I look at them.
23:44 And for me, they are kind of players of a very similar overall ability who play slightly
23:48 different roles, right?
23:50 PJ is a more of a 4-5 who can shoot the ball and probably a better like passer of the ball,
23:57 better connector.
23:58 Rui is more of a 3-4 who is better in the half court creating for himself scoring zone
24:03 shot and depending on your roster makeup might depend which one of those is more useful to
24:09 you.
24:10 I was just I was just curious to see kind of like where your thoughts were on Rui versus
24:14 PJ.
24:15 But, you know, from that, it sounds like it might be relatively level.
24:19 But like you say, other PJ trades, I struggle to see something that makes a ton of sense
24:25 going forward.
24:28 Yeah, I mean, I don't even know.
24:30 Can you I mean, Torian Prince, he's playing this year for the Lakers.
24:34 Jared Vanderbilt's playing.
24:36 You just don't have enough money to get to PJ Washington's number with like Pachefino,
24:42 I don't think so.
24:43 That's the biggest challenge here.
24:44 I mean, you could.
24:45 It might be the one thing with you.
24:48 You mentioned PJ's contract is going down.
24:52 And Gabe Vincent's contract is going up.
24:54 And if things don't pan out, maybe they try to move Gabe with with a Jalen Huchafino and
25:01 a first and maybe that gets you close enough money wise.
25:04 Again, as you said, though, that kind of clogs up the cap sheet a little bit.
25:08 I just don't see LA doing that, like you say.
25:11 Yeah, that's a young Huchafino and like a first for PJ Washington.
25:17 Yeah, they must have their eyes set on bigger fish than that.
25:21 Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, certainly that that was.
25:24 But something of that framework of like a Gabe Vincent and a filler for for PJ, something
25:30 like that might get you close money wise.
25:33 But no, yeah, I don't think they're giving up, as you said earlier, a pick and a half
25:36 for PJ Washington, especially with the reports of them looking at Donovan Mitchell and Trey
25:43 Young and things like that this summer.
25:46 But again, it's just kind of the Lakers have been kind of tied to a number of people with
25:52 the Hornets.
25:53 I would imagine if Gordon Hayward's bought out that that's another name that they're
25:58 going to be tied to as well.
25:59 So can LA sign buyout players?
26:02 They want teams under the eighth second apron.
26:05 OK, right.
26:06 Yeah, that would make some sense.
26:07 I agree.
26:08 Yeah.
26:09 So although I'm of the position and I voice this that I just don't want to see Gordon
26:13 bought out like after buying out Nick Batum to sign Gordon Hayward for him, then go on
26:20 and like have playoff success elsewhere and be like a key player.
26:24 I just don't think Hornets fans, the last few that are left, I think, would walk out
26:28 the door when they see Gordon Hayward winning the championship this summer.
26:32 I just I think the Hornets should just play him to the end and swallow the bitter pill.
26:37 Yeah.
26:38 So you're saying a Hayward versus Batum playoff series would really do you guys in?
26:45 That would finish the last remaining remnants of the Hornets fan base.
26:49 I think that would.
26:50 Yeah.
26:51 Clutch game seven of the of the finals.
26:53 Yeah.
26:54 OK, well, Jacob, we've reached the end of our list today.
26:58 I don't think we're able to reach an agreed mock trade, but it was good to have you on
27:02 to talk about some Lakers trade possibilities.
27:05 And if anything does happen in the future between the two teams, we'll make sure to
27:08 have you back on again.
27:09 Yeah, absolutely.
27:10 Anytime.
27:11 All right.
27:12 Thanks for your time.
27:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]