One of your Los Angeles Lakers’ most sought-after trade targets for 2023–24 is finished for the season. Zach LaVine, a shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls who has been named an All-Star twice, will undergo surgery on his right foot to end the season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. It will probably take him four to six months to heal. This will undoubtedly ruin Chicago’s chances of offloading LaVine’s lucrative $40.1 million contract this year for value. Given that this is the 28-year-old’s third major surgery in his brief career—he had a knee scope in 2022 and an ACL surgery in 2017—it will also likely cause prospective future trade partners to hesitate. Now officially classified as “injury prone,” the 6’5″ swingman is a skilled three-level scorer who detests playing defense in non-Olympic situations. This
Los Angeles isn’t out of the woods, though, as it appeared that the Lakers had been veering away from potential interest in the UCLA product in recent weeks. In addition to looking at smaller moves that could bring in more veteran role player types, such as 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, the team appears to be giving priority to Atlanta Hawks All-Star combo guard Dejounte Murray.
