The Los Angeles Lakers need a point guard in a bad way. Veteran PG Derek Fisher was already old before he spent his offseason getting his Jack McCoy on, and Steve Blake isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire either. This shouldn’t mask the fact that they also need a big who can come in off the bench and give them some portion of the production that Lamar Odom used to give them though too. So enter Portland Trailblazers chubby yet effective lead guard Raymond Felton, and the Minnesota Timberwolves Forward Mike Beasley, I guess.
This according to a recent tweet from Roland Lazenby:
I hear they want both Felton and Beasley. That’s their goal. But talk is cheap right now. The source is good tho.
In this case “they” specifically refers to Kobe Bryant and Mike Brown’s Los Angeles Lakers. Beyond being upgrades for LA at their respective positions, Felton and B-Easy both have expiring contracts as well. The slowed down pace that Ray didn’t flourish in under the up-tempo Mike D’Antoni prior to arriving in Rip City doesn’t really suit him. With Kevin Love, Derrick Williams, and every other good young big they have in the Twin Cities, the T-Wolves could certainly part with the former #2 overall pick in Beasley too.
The Lakers would be thought to use that trade exception they acquired in the Odom deal with Dallas as a major trade chip in this proposed move. Lazenby went on to also say that “even if gained with the trade exception, Felton raises a whole new round of possibilities+questions for the Lakers, ones they’ve pondered.” So It seems at this point, nearly two weeks away from the March 15 trade deadline, the Lakers are at least thinking about this one. We’ll see what happens shortly.
