NBA Trade Rumors, Lakers News: Interest In Sixer Nerlens Noel, Plus Lamar Odom Returning?

NBA trade rumors abound within the Los Angeles Lakers’ news wire that the franchise now has a high degree of interest in acquiring one of the Philadelphia 76ers’ top young players today.

The 16-time former NBA champions are believed to have inquired about the possibility of a trade for 22-year-old center and power forward, Nerlens Noel, to help round out its roster.

The NBA trade rumors persist as Lakers’ news continues to break that the team is focused on bolstering its defense over the long haul.

While this swap between the two former NBA rivals would likely benefit Noel, who struggles for playing time as #2 on the power forward depth chart behind Ersan Ilyasova, most skeptics believe that the Lakers would never be willing to pay the price needed to get him.

The Sixers, after all, are in full-on youth rebuilding mode.

NBA trade rumors such as this piece of Lakers news, the Lakers’ Nation blog recently noted, tend to be difficult to pull off because both teams have similar mindsets.

“The Lakers are unwilling to include any of their young core in trade discussions,” said the blog, despite also noting that the popular NBA team has “nothing else to offer [other] than their young, developing stars.”

In a similar vein, the Sixers would not likely trade Noel, who they scouted and acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013 despite fears over his recovery from ACL surgery, unless they were able to receive an equally young, promising player in return at the very least.

Still, the NBA trade rumors persist, and the deal would likely go through if it were actually up to Nerlens himself.

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Over two full seasons with the Sixers, Noel logged an average of just over 30 minutes per game, coming off the bench to record just 10.5 points per outing through that stretch. An opportunity to be a starting power forward or center would give the young player more opportunity to hone his craft, and ultimately, earn more money.

“Unfortunately, there’s little the Lakers have to offer (or at least are willing to offer) to appeal to the Sixers,” explained Liberty Ballers recently, also noting, “Los Angeles owes a first [round pick] either this year or next to the Sixers, depending on where it falls this year, and their 2019 first belongs to the Orlando Magic, thanks to the Dwight Howard trade.”

In other words, the Lakers’ young core of point guard D’Angelo Russell, power forward Julius Randle, small forward Brandon Ingram, and shooting/point guard Jordan Clarkson are not going anywhere.

To compound the matter, the popular NBA team, which currently sits just five games out from an eighth seed playoff opportunity, is, as Lakers’ Nation noted, “equally as close to being in the top three of the lottery.”

At the same time, Lakers news broke this week that Los Angeles might consider a homecoming of sorts for one of its popular former stars in Lamar Odom.

The 37-year-old Odom, who won two NBA titles with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, has been essentially out of the league since 2013. More recently, Odom was hospitalized and placed on life support in 2015 after being discovered unconscious at a brothel in Nevada.

Since that time, Odom, who was formerly married to Khloe Kardashian, has been working to get his life back on track.

Lakers news is now circulating, according to TMZ, that Odom reached out to team’s head coach Luke Walton about earning a spot on the franchise’s coaching staff.

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While it has yet to be seen what the team’s response to Odom’s request will be, many are hoping that it could serve as the latest indicator that Odom has finally turned a corner.

For the Lakers, what once was old could certainly be new again.

Any NBA trade rumors, no matter how enticing, are certainly nothing compared to the prospect of the Lakers adding a storied basketball mind, such as Odom’s, to help teach its talented roster of high-valued prospects.

[Featured Image by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images]