The Los Angeles Lakers are hard at work to shore up their roster. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers and Suns are in negotiations that would send Phoenix forward Trevor Ariza to the team he once won a championship with.
According to Wojnarowski, the Lakers and Suns have discussed three-team trades that would send Ariza to the Lakers. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would likely be the piece sent back to the Suns or a third team in order to match salaries.
Ariza signed a one-year deal with the Suns this summer and immediately became a potential buy-out candidate. However, with interest in the 3-and-D forward high, the Suns are hoping to get back assets instead of waiving him. Ariza is averaging 9.7 points per game while shooting 36.8 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from behind the arc.
The Lakers have already added a former Sun this year, signing Tyson Chandler after he was bought out by Phoenix. That signing has worked wonders for their defense.
Neither Ariza nor Caldwell-Pope is able to be traded until December 15th because they signed new contracts. KCP also has a no-trade clause as part of a CBA provision, but the Lakers could work with him and agent Rich Paul (who also represents LeBron James) in order to create a workaround.
According to Wojnarowski, a trade is not near completion but it seems as though the Lakers have put all their cards in this deck in order to trade for a player who can contribute now while maintaining their cap flexibility for next season.
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