On Saturday, the Los Angeles Lakers will head to the Intuit Dome in Inglewood to take on the Los Angeles Clippers. It will be the latest installment in the cross-town rivalry that has never truly materialized between the two teams, especially since they have never met in a playoff series.
The Lakers hold a 19-7 record, but many feel they’re one or two minor pieces short of being a true championship-caliber team. The missing piece is thought to be an athletic 3-and-D player who will upgrade their perimeter defense while giving them more footspeed and another outside shooting threat.
Zach Buckley, a writer who contributes to Lake Show Life on the FanSided network, recently suggested a trade that would give the Lakers two such players by pulling off a deal with the Clippers. This mock trade would give them guard Kris Dunn and forward Derrick Jones Jr. for Dalton Knecht, Gabe Vincent and a 2031 first-round draft pick.
“The Lakers will need actual stoppers to prevent postseason opponents from catching fire, and this deal would deliver exactly that,” Buckley wrote.
“Jones is an all-purpose disruptor who can fly around anywhere on the perimeter. Dunn is the point-of-attack pest this roster so clearly lacks. And they aren’t just good in the point-prevention side of defensive, either. Both are certified playmakers on that end, with Dunn averaging better than 1.5 steals and Jones supplies more than a block per outing from the small forward spot—all while neither is logging even 27 minutes a night.
“That ability to generate live-ball stops is big, because that can help fuel what probably should be a prolific transition attack but hasn’t actually been one (26th in fast-break points). The mere idea of Doncic or Reaves leading the break while the other spaces off-ball and James goes hard-charging to the basket is nightmare fuel for opposing coaches.”
Dunn, a 6-foot-3 31-year-old, is averaging 8.3 points, three assists and 1.6 steals in 26.5 minutes a game this season. He’s shooting 37.7% from 3-point range and 49.4% overall, and while his 3-point shooting was erratic last season, he was at 36.9% the season before that and 47.2% during the 2022-23 campaign (in 22 games). He could be a nice upgrade over Vincent, who is very inconsistent with his outside shooting and, therefore, sometimes unplayable.
Jones, meanwhile, is averaging 10.8 points, 0.8 steals and 1.2 blocks in 24.9 minutes a contest and shooting 34.8% from downtown this season. At 6-foot-6, he has a wingspan of seven feet, and his vertical leap was measured at about 45 inches. Back in 2020, he won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend in Chicago.
The Clippers are tied for the Western Conference’s second-best record at 6-21, so perhaps they would be open to moving one or more of their players for draft compensation. But one has to wonder if they would be willing to help the Lakers.