As the trade deadline approaches, rumors around the Los Angeles Lakers are heating up. It appears, however, that this may be a much quieter deadline than initially expected for the purple and gold.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers have already rejected multiple offers for Julius Randle, one of several players who was placed on the trading block earlier this season. Those offers have all been centered on a return of second-round picks for LAL.
So far, the Lakers have turned down several teams offering second-round picks for Julius Randle, league sources tell ESPN. No one will offer a first with him headed into restricted free agency.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2018
According to Woj, teams are not offering first-round draft picks for the former seventh overall pick. That’s understandable as Randle’s contract situation diminishes his trade value. Teams interested in adding the big man can look to the summer to give him an offer sheet that the Lakers would have the option to match.
With so much emphasis on signing star free agents (although that focus may have shifted recently), it would be unclear if the Lakers would match a big offer for Randle.
It was reported earlier that the Lakers are no longer in a rush to make trades by Thursday’s deadline with the front office now open to the idea of kicking their cap space down the road to 2019. That would bode well for Randle’s future as a Laker.
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