Out early!3 for 1 rejected!The Lakers' Big Three are gone
As previously reported by Shams, Hawks coach Schneider has lobbied the team to keep Dejounte Murray. But even so, the Los Angeles Lakers still see Dejounte Murray as the No. 1 target in free agency at the trade deadline. The reason is simple, Dejounte Murray is the type of player the Lakers are most likely to get through a trade in free agency and the team needs the most.
As we all know, Lakers general manager Pelinka has been working to bring in a third star to the team before the trade deadline, striving to create a new version of the Lakers' Big Three. With James still in the championship window of his career, the Lakers will spare no effort to build a championship lineup around James and thick eyebrows. Lakers management knows that James' championship window cannot be missed, and it will be the key to their best chance of reaching the 18th championship in franchise history in the next few years. Otherwise, this is a blasphemy against Lao Zhan's career!
The Lakers had approached the Chicago Bulls earlier, with which Pelinka had negotiated a trade for Zach LaVine. But the premise of the Bulls trading LaVine is that the Lakers have to send Austin Reaves as a core bargaining chip, otherwise everything is not discussed. And the Lakers see Austin Reaves as close to being for sale, and they won't move Reaves unless they can trade him for an All-Star player. Under the stalemate of the Lakers' insistence on not using Reaves as a core bargaining chip, a potential trade for LaVine was aborted. Subsequently, Hawks guard Dejounte Murray entered the eyes of the Lakers. Of course, the Hawks, who plan to rebuild, will not be low in return, because the Spurs veteran has also been selected as an All-Star, and Dejounte Murray is averaging 21+5+5+1 all-around statistics per game this season, which is tempting for any team.
Previously, Shams reported that the Hawks wanted to find a third-party team to take over Russell in order to complete the trade that sent Dejounte Murray to the Lakers. The Lakers' offer to the Hawks is: Russell + Schifino + a first-round pick + other draft assets. While the Hawks weren't obsessed with asking for Austin Reaves, it still put the Lakers off because the Hawks refused to take over the remaining big contract with Lakers Russell.
According to well-known journalist Brett Siegel, multiple sources in the league have confirmed that the Lakers have made offers for Russell, Schifino and draft pick compensation in relation to the Murray trade. But the Hawks, in search of a higher trade return, quickly rejected the Lakers' 3-for-1 offer, especially since they didn't want to trade Dejounte Murray for Russell. It's worth mentioning that the Lakers didn't try to find a third-party team to broker a Dejounte Murray trade two weeks ago.
It can be seen that the Lakers have been out of the competition for Dejounte Murray ahead of schedule, and the triumvirate combination of James + thick eyebrows + Murray that they plan to create will be aborted. And with Russell's recent explosive performance, contributing a number of 20+ performances in a row, the Lakers seem to be less eager for a trade. So, if Pelinka doesn't make any big moves at the trade deadline, Lakers fans don't make a fuss, because he's really done his best, and that might be the best option.