{"id":217480,"date":"2025-08-07T10:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/217480\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:53:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:53:18","slug":"lakers-blockbuster-trade-idea-lands-118-million-nba-champion-celtics-guard-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/217480\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers blockbuster trade idea lands $118 million NBA champion Celtics guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers blockbuster trade idea lands $118 million NBA champion Celtics guard<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers are in an interesting spot in early August.<\/p>\n

The organization has undoubtedly improved since losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the postseason, adding Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia.<\/p>\n

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However, while things look promising for the Luka Doncic-led Lakers, there\u2019s no denying the franchise has the assets necessary to make another impactful summer move.<\/p>\n

In Sports Illustrated\u2019s Matt Brandon\u2019s<\/a> opinion, Los Angeles should complete a trade for a thriving NBA champion Celtics guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Lakers can acquire Derrick White without giving up Austin Reaves, that\u2019s a massive win, \u201dBrandon wrote Monday. \u201cFor L.A., this deal is about maximizing their win-now window with LeBron and Luka Doncic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhite\u2019s elite perimeter defense and off-ball shooting make him the ideal backcourt complement to Doncic, who thrives with secondary playmakers who don\u2019t need the ball to impact the game. Plus, White could help mask Luka\u2019s defensive shortcomings and give the Lakers a true two-way identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYes, the Lakers would lack some wing depth, but adding White to a backcourt that already features a defensive specialist like Marcus Smart could cause serious headaches for opposing point guards.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brandon\u2019s blockbuster trade proposal, the Lakers would send Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht, Maxi Kleber, and two future first-round picks to the Celtics for White, Jordan Walsh, and Neemias Queta.<\/p>\n

As Brandon alluded to, White and Smart have similar skill sets. Although White is the more polished and reliable offensive threat in 2025, both contributors are committed on-ball defenders who have too much pride to get torched regularly (which would help their partnership work in Los Angeles).<\/p>\n

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White averaged 16.4 points, 4.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.9 steals per game with the Celtics last season, shooting 44.2% from the field and 38.4% from downtown.<\/p>\n

The Colorado product is expected to assume a more significant offensive role next season due to Jayson Tatum\u2019s devastating Achilles injury.<\/p>\n

Still, Brandon\u2019s hypothetical trade package for White should be enough to cause the Celtics to consider sending the former first-round pick to the West Coast.<\/p>\n

More NBA:\u00a0Lakers forward predicted to leave Los Angeles to ring-chase with Stephen Curry, Warriors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers blockbuster trade idea lands $118 million NBA champion Celtics guard originally appeared on The Sporting News The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[1013,7,46,1250,1586,1243,4077,77,4989,4034,1698,300,4044,516,251,150,4033,4043,508,326,22842,3000,152,6,4986,1012],"class_list":{"0":"post-217480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-celtics","11":"tag-dalton-knecht","12":"tag-deandre-ayton","13":"tag-derrick-white","14":"tag-jake-laravia","15":"tag-jayson-tatum","16":"tag-jordan-walsh","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-la-lakers","19":"tag-lakers","20":"tag-lalakers","21":"tag-lebron","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","24":"tag-losangeles","25":"tag-losangeleslakers","26":"tag-luka","27":"tag-marcus-smart","28":"tag-matt-brandon","29":"tag-maxi-kleber","30":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","31":"tag-nba","32":"tag-neemias-queta","33":"tag-rui-hachimura"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114987113366473478","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}