Details of Raptors trade with Lakers that fell through last season revealed

The Los Angeles Lakers might be a basketball problem too hard to fix, but it’s not without some trying from the Toronto Raptors.

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported earlier this week that the Raptors were in talks with the Lakers last season around a trade for Talen Horton-Tucker, who was eventually traded this offseason to Utah in exchange for Patrick Beverley.

“The Raptors would have traded for Talen Horton-Tucker, [they would’ve] traded a first-round pick!” McMenamin said in a segment earlier this week. “I’m told that the trade would have also involved Khem Birch. So they would have taken some money there. And maybe Birch wouldn’t be the best rotation guy for this group. But that first-round pick is so valuable.”

Despite the star power of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook, the dysfunctional Lakers sit 5-10, good enough for 13th in the Western Conference after missing the playoffs last season.

Having sent a series of picks away in high-profile trades for Davis and Westbrook, the Lakers have just two first-round draft picks — in 2027 and 2029 — that they can use as future trade chips as of right now.

It’s not clear which first-round pick the Raptors would’ve been trading, as they shipped off their 2022 first-round pick to San Antonio (along with Goran Dragic) to acquire Thad Young, Drew Eubanks, and a second-round pick that eventually became Christian Koloko.

While Young has been a key piece of the Raptors this season, Beverley never actually played for Utah after coming over from Minnesota, but was shipped to Los Angeles this offseason for Horton-Tucker and former Raptor Stanley Johnson.

Horton-Tucker has averaged 8.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 19 games this season with the Jazz, after he put up 10 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 60 games for the Lakers in 2021-22.

Meanwhile, Beverley has averaged 4.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 13 games for the Lakers, while averaging 27 minutes a night.

Birch hasn’t played a whole lot for Toronto this year, as he’s averaged 1.9 points, one rebound, and 0.6 steals in just seven games this season, playing under seven minutes a night.

It’s not much use to wonder what could’ve been for Toronto and LA at this point, but at the very least, it’s a little bit of fun to speculate.

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