LA Lakers Rumors: Team Could Trade Three For Big Man And Are Also Looking At Andrea Bargnani

The LA Lakers may not have actually had a lot of things happen for them in the 2015 NBA free agency period so far, but they have been busy. After missing out on LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan, they were able to land Roy Hibbert. Now, they are looking to get another big man, and may look at Andrea Bargnani or making a trade for Brendan Haywood.

Free agency has been going for about a week now, and Andrea Bargnani is still out there and available. ESPN is reporting that he has since entered into strong discussions with the Sacramento Kings, but as of Sunday afternoon, nothing was in place yet.

According to Yibada, the Lakers may now take a run at signing Bargnani and lining him up next to Hibbert.

Having Bargnani in the Lakers’ front court could be huge after the acquisition of Hibbert and the signing of Brandon Bass. A returning and healthy Julius Randle will also give the Lakers two big men who have nice outside shots.

If there really is interest in Bargnan from the Lakers and the Kings take him away, then that will be the second time it has happened in the past week. The Kings also held onto DeMarcus Cousins after the Lakers had shown a lot of interest in trading for him, but Sacramento asked too much.

Should the Lakers want to go in another direction, they have to think about how much money they have left. D’Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr., and Robert Upshaw have all signed contracts now, and Los Angeles may still look to trade for Brendan Haywood.

According to the Sports World Report, the Lakers could free up some salary cap space in the trade for Haywood. That free space would come from trading away Nick Young, Ryan Kelly, and Robert Sacre for the big man from Cleveland.

The Lakers are not the only team interested in Haywood, though, as the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns are also looking at him. Haywood has a contract for $10.5 million that is not guaranteed, and makes him easy trade bait.

Unloading the contracts of Young, Kelly ($1.7 million), and Sacre (league minimum) would free up cap space to go along with the little bit of an exemption the Lakers have remaining. With that, either Haywood could be traded for or Bargnani could be signed.

The rumors swirling around the LA Lakers are plentiful, but they aren’t rushing into any decisions. It’s obvious that another big man acquisition is in their plans and he could be named Andrea Barnani or Brendan Haywood.

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