The Indiana Pacers will quickly pull the trigger to ship both Myles Turner and Buddy Hield if the Los Angeles Lakers will offer their coveted two first-round picks as told by ESPN’s Zach Lowe in the Lowe Post podcast:
“‘The one I’ve said I would sleep over if I were a Buss or Mr. Pelinka is trading both picks to the Pacers for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner,’ Lowe said. ‘My best intel right now is if the Lakers called Indiana right now and said “Both picks unprotected,” the Pacers would do that deal, would probably do that deal.’”
Any significant deal that they will get both Hield and Turner from the Pacers will ultimately require their two lucrative future picks and Russell Westbrook for salary matching purposes. Despite the Lakers’ strong intent to move the former league MVP, they still consider those selections as too valuable to be parted ways on that kind of amount only.
It was evident from previous reports that L.A. will only move their picks if the return will give a significant impact to their title aspirations. Though both Hield and Turner are impact players of their own, the ball club appears much leaning on assets that will let them climb further in contention ladder.
For the Lakers, they remain good to go even with Westbrook still on their side. As the next summer hits, they will free up a large cap space from the expiration of hus contract – which could pave a way to land a third star to be partnered with both LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
