The NBA offseason may be a few days old, but it’s already going full steam.
The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to trade D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and the 27th overall pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, according to a report from Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
For the Lakers, this move would give them three first-round picks (number 2, 27 and 28) in this week’s Draft. They could use all three picks, or be accumulating assets to use in a later trade. Lopez is a former All-Star who has averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds over his first nine seasons. The Lakers have several quality young players, but finished last season with just 26 wins. The move also clears major cap space for L.A. to use during free agency in 2018.
For the rebuilding Nets, the addition of Russell gives them a franchise player. Russell, who is just 21 years old, was the number 2 overall pick in the 2015 Draft by the Lakers. In his first two seasons, Russell has averaged 14.3 points and 4.0 assists. The Lakers signed the veteran Mozgov last summer, but struggled to fit him into their system last season.
