The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to a possible trade for a sharpshooting 2024 Boston Celtics champion.
As Boston team president and general manager Brad Stevens continues to tear down key cogs in the core group that powered the club to a cumulative 125-39 regular season record and the aforementioned 2024 NBA title to save money, it appears that few players are safe.
Stevens ditched Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team exchange with the Brooklyn Nets. In return, he obtained a future second-round pick and forward Georges Niang. Stevens eventually flipped Niang and a whopping two future second-rounders to the Utah Jazz, bringing in two-way rookie signing RJ Luis Jr. and an $8 million trade exception.
Losing Porzingis for essentially the cost of one second-rounder makes sense, as the 7-foot-2 stretch five had never survived the playoffs healthy for Boston and was on an exorbitant $30.7 million (expiring) contract.
But Stevens, hoping to duck the league’s brutal luxury tax apron and avoid penalties associated with the dreaded repeater tax in a retooling year without injured All-Star Jayson Tatum, wasn’t done.
He also shipped out six-time All-Defensive guard Jrue Holiday, 35, to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for defense-free combo guard Anfernee Simons, 26. Simons is a talented scorer, but essentially is Payton Pritchard on a pricier expiring contract, and his style does not seem to mesh well with the approach that has made Boston so dominant with its complementary depth around All-Stars Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
After Stevens cut point guard JD Davison, Boston officially got beneath the second tax apron. But there’s still work to be done if the Celtics want to get beneath the first.
Zach Kram of ESPN suggests that the Los Angeles Lakers could serve as an ideal trade destination for a vet who had been a useful bench sharpshooter for Boston, floor-stretching forward Sam Hauser.
Kram observes that newly obtained Lakers All-Star guard Luka Doncic thrives alongside 3-point snipers, especially players who can convert at a high clip from the corners.
“The current supply of shooting in the NBA is so great that the skill set is generally available for cheap,” Kram notes. “For instance, Luke Kennard (fourth in corner 3-point percentage over the past five seasons, minimum 100 attempts) signed a one-year, $11 million deal with the Hawks this summer… The Lakers probably could acquire players such as Grayson Allen (10th) and Sam Hauser (12th) in trades without too much fuss if they wanted.”
The 6-foot-7 former Virginia swingman, 27, was one of the NBA’s most lethal shooters in 2024-25, averaging 8.5 points on .451/.416/1.000 shooting splits, plus 3.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.6 steals a night. He was played sparingly in the postseason this spring. With his minutes reduced from 21.7 to 13.5, Hauser saw his stats slashed to 3.5 points on .417/.333/1.000 shooting splits, 1.5 rebounds and 0.5 dimes per.
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