One of your Los Angeles Lakers’ rumored top 2023-24 trade targets is done for the year. Two-time Chicago Bulls All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine will go under the knife for a season-ending right foot surgery, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
He is expected to take 4-6 months to recover. This will obviously doom any chance Chicago had to
offload LaVine’s generous $40.1 million contract this year for value, and will probably even give potential future trade partners pause, as it represents the third major surgery of the 28-year-old’s young career, following an ACL surgery in 2017 and a knee scope in 2022.
The 6’5″ swingman, a talented three-level scorer who hates playing defense in non-Olympics scenarios, can now officially be considered “injury prone.” This marks his third season missing at least 35 games.
It’s not a total loss for Los Angeles, as it seemed that the Lakers in recent weeks had been pivoting away from possible interest in the UCLA product.
The club seems to be prioritizing Atlanta Hawks All-Star combo guard Dejounte Murray, and/or eyeing smaller moves that could bring in more veteran role player types, including Brooklyn Nets players Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neal, Toronto Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr., and even LaVine’s Bulls teammate Andre Drummond, a big man LA has tried out before.
Across just 25 contests this season, LaVine will finish with averages of 19.5 points on .452/.349/.854 shooting splits, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists a night. Chicago went 7-18 in that span.
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