The Los Angeles Lakers have just been mentioned as one of the five teams interested to trade for All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, whom the Boston Celtics are willing to move between now and the February 19 trade deadline.
Desperately looking for talent to keep their playoff hopes afloat this season, the Lakers have reportedly reached out Boston Celtics top brass, led by general manager Danny Ainge, to inquire about Rondo's availability.
According to Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders, the Lakers are one of five Western Conference teams along with the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, the New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets that made their pitches for the service of Rondo, who is averaging 8.0 points, 10.6 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game coming off an ACL injury.
"West teams that make sense as a suitor for Rondo: Kings, Lakers, Rockets and Pelicans," Koutroupis posted on his Twitter account.
While many analysts believe it would be hard for the Lakers to land another star because of their depleted roster, Koutroupis thinks the other way around. He insists that the combination of budding power forward Jordan Hill, expiring contracts of Jeremy Lin ($8M) and Steve Nash ($9M) along with the first-round pick they acquired from the Rockets by trading for Lin last offseason will be enough to entice the Celtics' front-office.
Other than Rondo, the Celtics are also trying to trade forward Jeff Green, who could certainly provide the Lakers a versatile big man to play at both forward positions.
"Lakers actually have nice combo of expiring contracts (Lin, Nash, Hill's deal a team option), Houston's 1st rounder, to entice Boston. Lakers should give Cs whatever it takes for Rondo/Jeff Green, who is also on the block. Kobe+Rondo combine to turn LA into city of A-Holes!," according to Koutroupis.
According to ESPN, the Dallas Mavericks appear to be the leading contender in getting Rondo. The Mavs, which already boasts four All-Star caliber players (Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons), are reportedly open to trade promising big man Brendan Wright along with other players and draft picks for Rondo.
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