The Lakers and the Nuggets have met in the playoffs for many consecutive seasons, because of some blowing penalties and game results on the court, the two teams had a very unpleasant quarrel, and even fired many shots in the air off the court, which is already one of the NBA's most interesting rivals, but the situation of both teams in the new season is not very optimistic, and they have failed to complete effective reinforcements in the offseason, and the Lakers have not introduced a reliable third star for Zhan Mei, and the depth of the Nuggets squad has been further weakened.
To this end, the American media "fansided" recruited two teams to try to complete a 4-for-2 win-win deal, Porter Jr. teamed up with Zhan Mei, and Jokic welcomed 3 big helpers.
The potential trading scenarios are as follows
The Lakers get: Porter Jr. + Jordan Jr.;
Nuggets get: Hachimura + Russell + Hayes + 2031 first-round pick.
Lakers: Meet the coaching ideas of the new coach
The Lakers have 0 reinforcements in the offseason, and all the new players to the official contract are from the draft, so the biggest expectation for the new season actually comes from the new coach Redick, hoping that he can find new answers in the existing roster.
Redick's current idea is to add more three-point shots while improving the Lakers' three-point shooting percentage, according to the Lakers' current roster.
Redick can only pin his hopes on Knecket, who is only a rookie and has little chance of solving the problem.
The deal is another way to solve the problem, and the addition of Porter Jr. is expected to directly and significantly improve the Lakers' three-point shooting ability and become one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA.
Porter Jr. is a skilled jumper who averaged 6.8 three-point attempts and 39.7 percent shooting from the field in '23-24 due to a series of off-court issues.
More importantly, Porter Jr.'s size and projection give the Lakers more room for imagination in the lineup.
With Russell's departure, James could return to the No. 1 position, saving some energy while masking the slippery foot on the defensive end.
Rivers plays the No. 2 position, Porter Jr. plays the No. 3 position, Vanderbilt plays 4, and the thick eyebrows play 5, if the Lakers can bring in a spatial No. 5 position, then the thick eyebrows can play 4, the Lakers send a top big lineup, if Christie performs well, James partners with the thick eyebrows to play 4, and the Lakers continue to play a relatively small lineup.
Nuggets: Helpless
As a small-ball team, the Nuggets are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of overall salary investment and attraction to free agents, resulting in the team letting go of Brown, Jeff Green and Pope in the past two seasons.
Coupled with Murray's poor performance in the playoffs and offseason of the 23-24 season, even if he brought in Willis and Saric in the offseason, the pressure on the Nuggets for the new season is still surging.
Especially in terms of rotation depth and second-team ability, it is still the shortcomings of this Nuggets team, and this deal gives the Nuggets another way to solve the problem.
Porter Jr.'s salary for the '24-25 season is close to $36 million, and with the next two years getting bigger, the team's future salary situation will only get worse.
With this deal, the Nuggets are expected to acquire Russell + Hachimura, two reliable starter-level players, as well as Hayes, a reliable blue-collar rotation insider, plus a first-round pick for a mid-season trade, and the Nuggets will significantly improve the team's rotation situation.