NBA Rumors: Andre Iguodala To Lakers For Caldwell-Pope And Bradley ‘Would Technically Work,’ Per ‘SB Nation’
The first week of the 2019 NBA free agency concluded with the Golden State Warriors trading Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies in order to free enough salary cap space to acquire D’Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade deal with the Brooklyn Nets. Though a veteran with championship experience like Iguodala would be an incredible mentor to the Grizzlies’ young core, most people don’t see him staying long in Memphis.
According to a previous article from The Inquisitr, Andre Iguodala’s camp and the Grizzlies have reached an arrangement that the former Finals MVP won’t be attending the team’s media day nor report to the team’s training camp. However, instead of simply buying out Iguodala’s contract and letting him join a team of his own choice as an unrestricted free agent, the Grizzlies remain hopeful that they could find a trade partner for the veteran small forward.
Since the news about his desire to part ways with the Grizzlies spread around the league, several NBA teams have expressed interest in adding Andre Iguodala to their roster, including the Los Angeles Lakers. According to Christian Rivas of SB Nation’s Silver Screen and Roll, if Iguodala will still be available on the trade market in mid-December, the Lakers could use some of the players they recently signed in the 2019 NBA free agency as trade chips to acquire him from the Grizzlies.
Rivas suggested that the deal that would send Andre Iguodala to the Lakers in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Avery Bradley “would technically work,” but it would require KCP to waive the no-trade clause in his contract.
“The Lakers signed five players to ‘1+1’ deals in free agency: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Quinn Cook and Avery Bradley. Of those five players, three of them re-signed with the Lakers, giving them an implicit no-trade clause for the 2019-20 season because a trade would require them to forfeit their Early Bird Rights in free agency. So, while a trade package involving Caldwell-Pope and Bradley would technically work after Dec. 15, Caldwell-Pope would have to sign off on it, which isn’t likely unless he’s desperate to get out of Los Angeles.”
However, even if Kentavious Caldwell-Pope agrees to help the Lakers, the suggested trade package isn’t likely to be enough to convince the Grizzlies to send Andre Iguodala to Los Angeles. In any potential deal involving Iguodala, the Grizzlies are expected to demand a future draft pick in the trade package in which the Lakers are reluctant to give up. Having a player of Iguodala’s caliber in the Lakers’ second unit would undeniably boost their chance of fully dominating the Western Conference and winning the NBA championship title in the 2019-20 NBA season.
Unfortunately, as of now, the possibility of Iguodala-to-Lakers trade is only minimal and the only realistic way that they could get him is if the Grizzlies fail to find a workable trade and finally decide to buy out his contract.
