Completing a deal for a center would help positively change the trajectory of the Los Angeles Lakers’ organization.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Lakers could acquire an 18-year-old Duke freshman star in a franchise-altering three-team summer trade.
“It should be noted that this trade (No. 11 pick and 2031 unprotected first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets, No. 8 pick and No. 36 pick to the Lakers, and Dalton Knecht and a 2027 top-4 protected first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers) is contingent on whether Duke’s Khaman Maluach is on the board when Brooklyn is picking,” Bobby Marks wrote Friday.”
“If he is, then the Lakers have their starting center for the future, but at the cost of last year’s first-round pick, Knecht, and an unprotected first in 2031. It is the same package the Lakers sent to Charlotte in the failed Mark Williams trade last February, except the 2031 first-round swap is not included.”
“In Maluach, the Lakers get a lob partner for Luka Doncic, a rim protector, and the paint presence they lacked in the first-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.”
“The Lakers could have waited until free agency to get a starting center, but they had only the $5.7 million tax mid-level exception available. Because of the first apron, the Lakers were also limited in taking back more money in a trade.”
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Cooper Flagg received most of the attention at Duke during the 2024-25 college basketball season, but Maluach’s skill set was impossible to disregard.
The 7-foot-2 center isn’t a stretch big at the moment.
Still, Maluach is comfortable feasting in the pick-and-roll (enabling Doncic to give him opportunities to track down perfectly placed lobs) and bailing out his teammates on the defensive end by wreaking havoc in the paint.
Maluach averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game with the Blue Devils, shooting a superb 71.2% from the field.
The Rumbek, South Sudan native isn’t a Hack-a-Shaq candidate, either, as he connected on 76.6% of his free throws as a low-post-oriented asset.
While Maluach would be viewed as a developmental asset with the Lakers, he possesses the two-way traits necessary to contribute from the jump and earn JJ Redick’s trust in Year 1.
More NBA: Warriors could trade erratic $37 million guard to Lakers for 6-foot-8 forward, per writer
