Former Chicago Bulls superstar point guard Derrick Rose has a realistic shot to be traded from the Pistons to the Lakers this offseason.
A situation that could be very beneficial for the former Chicago Bulls MVP winning superstar point guard Derrick Rose to land in the very near future could be with the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. According to a report from heavy.com this week, a trade between the Detroit Pistons and Lakers involving D-Rose is “much more likely now” than it was back at the trade deadline in February 2020.
D-Rose is about to enter the second-year of the two-year deal he signed out of free agency with the Pistons last offseason. He’s due for around $7.5 million per year of the life of his current contract. That wouldn’t be all that much for the Lakers to take on to their current cap sheet. The Lakers also have a lot of wiggle room as to what they can to with their roster moves this offseason.
A double-digit number of Lakers players are set to hit the free agent market this offseason. Quite a few of them might be due to return, but the Lakers are going to do all they can to improve the roster even more than what it was last season to repeat as NBA Champions.
The name that keeps getting tossed around in relation to a D-Rose trade from the Piston to the Lakers is the to-be fourth-year forward Kyle Kuzma. The salary matching isn’t quite there between Rose and Kuzma, but it might be a beneficial deal as far as the player exchange goes for both sides.
It might be about time for the Lakers to jump ship from the Kuzma experiment starting alongside the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And a change of scenery with a team like the Pistons could be exactly what Kuzma needs to revitalize his game.
Moreover, during the shortened 2019-20 regular season with the Pistons, Rose played in 50 games (starting in 15 of them). He averaged 18.1 points per game, 2.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.3 blocks. And Rose shot 49.0 percent from the field, 30.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 87.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Rose won the 2010-11 NBA MVP, back during his early run with the Bulls, to go along with three All-Star selections, and one All-NBA Team selection. The Chicago native and first overall pick of the Bulls from the 2008 NBA Draft will be 32 years old at the likely outset of the 2020-21 season.