Famed NBA Analyst Proposes Blockbuster Trade Between Lakers, Warriors

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has never been one to back down from giving his own opinion in the sports world and has urged the Los Angeles Lakers to engage in a blockbuster trade with the Golden State Warriors.

Ahead of this past Wednesday's New York Knicks versus Brooklyn Nets game, Smith floated the idea of trading Anthony Davis to the Warriors in exchange for Klay Thompson and versatile big man Draymond Green.

Fellow analysts Jalen Rose and Michael Wilbon immediately shut this notion down since there is no way that the Warriors would make that trade since Thompson and Green helped build their dynasty and they are still serviceable players despite them entering the tail-end of their primes.

Running this hypothetical trade from Smith involving the two Western Conference squads through the Fanspo trade machine, it presents the Lakers with more questions than answers.

On the financial side, the Lakers will be absorbing about $28.4 million in their cap space based on Thompson and Green's deals.

Los Angeles will also need to trade away $18.8 million worth of contracts to give them enough space to make it successful.

To that end, the Lakers will have to include Patrick Beverley's $13 million and Kendrick Nunn's $5.2 million deals to facilitate the trade.

On one hand, it does make the Lakers a more star-studded team with Green and Thompson being in the starting five alongside LeBron James. On the other though, the Lakers' already lacking bench depth will further be gutted with the loss of Beverley and Nunn.

For perspective, The Ringer's Bill Simmons reported that there has been some "buzz" with regards to Davis being quietly shopped by the Lakers.

However, he noted that it will only be a secondary plan for them since the Lakers are still looking to ship out Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers and Warriors have been off to terrible starts thus far into the 2022-23 NBA season after so much hype was raised about them during the offseason.

Currently, the Lakers are at 2-9 for the season (14th in the West) and the defending champions at 4-7 (12th in the league).

While there is optimism on the side of the Warriors to change their trajectory once $128-million-man Jordan Poole finds his shot again and the bench comes alive, the Lakers are poised for another disappointing season.

In an ideal world, both sides would be at least discussing the possibility of a trade, but with so many moving parts involved, it would be safe to say that Smith's proposal is nowhere close to ever happening.