Desperate Lakers Acquire Help for LeBron In Trade
The Los Angeles Lakers got some help for LeBron James on Wednesday, but it’s not New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis.
The Lakers acquired Reggie Bullock from the Detroit Pistons for rookie guard Svi Mykhailiuk.
Bullock is a sixth-year pro who began his career across town with the Clippers.
He is averaging 12.1 points per game and hitting 38.8 percent of his 3-point attempts this season for the Pistons.
His outside shooting will fill a major need for the struggling Lakers, who are the NBA’s second-worst 3-point shooting team at 33.4 percent.
Bullock also is a close friend of Lakers swingman Brandon Ingram. They are both from tiny Kinston, North Carolina.
Mykhailiuk was a second-round pick by the Lakers out of Kansas. The Ukrainian shooter averaged 3.2 points in 39 games.
That wasn’t the only NBA trade Wednesday.
The Philadelphia 76ers agreed to acquire Los Angeles Clippers forward Tobias Harris as the centerpiece of a six-player, four-draft pick trade they hope can put them over the top in the East.
A person familiar with the trade said the Sixers also acquired center Boban Marjanovic and forward Mike Scott as part of the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not yet been announced.
The Clippers restocked the roster with pieces for the future.
The Sixers sent rookie guard Landry Shamet and four draft picks to Los Angeles. The Sixers also traded forwards Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala to the Clippers.
The 26-year-old Harris is having a breakout season with the Clippers. He averages 20.7 points and shoots 42 percent from 3-point range and will start with All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and Jimmy Butler and J.J. Redick to form one of the top starting fives in the Eastern Conference.
Sixers general manager Elton Brand traded for Butler, a four-time All-Star, earlier this season, and showed again he’s not afraid to make a bold move for the win-now franchise. Harris and Butler will both be free agents this summer.
The Sixers’ four picks sent to the Clippers are their lottery-protected 2020 first-round pick, a 2021 first-rounder, a 2021 second-round pick and a 2023 second-round pick.
Philadelphia is 34-20 and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
The Clippers are 30-25 and eighth in the West and have shed the salary needed to make them players for big free agents in the summer.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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