The Los Angeles Lakers’ most recent 122-110 defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night dropped the team’s record to 18-14 despite Austin Reaves’ game-high 35 points.
Cleveland found success early into the contest by attacking the rim with reckless abandon, despite Los Angeles trotting out Anthony Davis, one of the most dominant rim protectors in recent memory.
The Cavaliers’ All-Star point guard Darius Garland racked up 14 assists by attacking the paint and dishing the ball off to either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley, a frontcourt tandem that combined for 47 points on 71.4% shooting from the floor.
Though Davis is a generationally talented rim deterrent, Cleveland realized that the Lakers possessed zero shot-blocking ability outside of the nine-time All-Star.
Due to this, Garland was easily able to find his skilled big men after drawing Davis away from the rim or getting him to mistime his block attempts.
For this reason alone, the Lakers and their general manager Rob Pelinka have been labeled as potential buyers as the Feb. 6 trade deadline approaches, seeking a proven shot-blocker to assist Davis at the rim.
In order to remedy their struggles with interior defense, the Lakers could pull off a trade to acquire a solid young center from the selling Brooklyn Nets, Nic Claxton.
At 25 years old, the 6-foot-11 Claxton could be the perfect match to stand aside Davis as rulers of the painted area on defense for the Lakers.
Seeing as though Los Angeles and Brooklyn have already agreed on a trade centered around the veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith Sunday afternoon, the potential for another deal to be negotiated is present.
Claxton placed top-ten in Defensive Player of the Year voting for 2022-23, the same season in which he led the league with a 70.5% field goal percentage.
Claxton’s mix of length and agility makes him one of the most versatile defensive centers in the game, evidenced by his career figure of 1.7 blocks paired with a 1.5 defensive box plus-minus.
The potential acquisition of Brooklyn’s rising center not only assists Los Angeles on the defensive end, it also provides LeBron James with an athletic lob threat with the ability to run in transition.
In a deal for Claxton, Los Angeles would likely send Brooklyn salary filler in the form of Gabe Vincent or Jarred Vanderbilt along with draft capital and a young prospect like Jalen Hood-Schifino to help Brooklyn with their rebuilding efforts.
More NBA: Timberwolves swap Julius Randle for Bulls’ $80 million guard in proposed blockbuster trade
