One of the sliding doors of the Lakers season has to do with Buddy Held: in the summer the yellow-violet management decided to use its assets to complete the exchange for Russell Westbrook, but it came very close to using a few to catch the Bahamian shooter (so much so that Kyle Kuzma, who would have been included in that exchange, already felt like a Sacramento Kings player and called that deal “already done”). Now the Lakers could return to the charge for Hield: according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Rob Pelinka reached out to Kings management to propose an exchange focusing on Talen Horton-Tucker and other smaller contracts (Kendrick Nunn and probably one between DeAndre Jordan and Kent Bazemore) to get to Hield, but the response of the Californians was negative, convinced that they could find a better offer on the market.
deepening
The Kings are no longer interested in Ben Simmons
The Kings are indeed one of the most active teams around the league, looking to change a dysfunctional roster that is getting them nowhere. making available veterans like Harrison Barnes and youngsters like Marvin Bagley III and entering all market rumors, from Ben Simmons (which seems to have been abandoned) to Jerami Grant. Evidently they are convinced they can use Hield’s 23 million (whose contract goes down in the next two seasons) for a more impactful exchange for their team.
