The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t wasting any time. On the same day it was revealed that the team was acquiring Dennis Schroder from the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 28 pick in this year’s draft and Danny Green, it also came out who LA wanted to replace Green with.
According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Lakers are interested in adding Wesley Matthews in Green’s place.
“More on how the Lakers’ roster shapes up for their forthcoming title defense,” he tweeted. “League sources say they have interest in trying to sign Wesley Matthews away from Milwaukee to replace Green.”
This past year Green averaged 8.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.8 threes per outing, but he lacked the sort of shooting consistency that many fans had hoped to see.
Although he provided solid defense in the postseason and a lot of heads-up play, it would be fair to characterize his overall contribution, given his salary, a disappointment.
Before the 2019-20 season commenced, Green signed a two-year, $30 million deal with the Lakers. He is due to make $15.4 million in 2020-21. At the time, given the organization’s cap situation and what was available, it was regarded as a fairly solid pick-up.
Arguably the worst jerseys in sports history. https://t.co/c0y3BDd5Ut
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 15, 2020
Now the last year of that deal will apparently be Oklahoma City’s problem.
Matthews, meanwhile, is coming off a campaign with the Milwaukee Bucks that saw him average 7.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game including 36.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc in 67 outings last year.
For all the talk of Green being a lights-out three-point shooting threat, the actual daylight between him and Matthews in that regard is negligible. This past season Green shot .2 percent better from three than Matthews did.
Dwight Howard kept it very real. https://t.co/aE7f0VaDIA
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 14, 2020
For what it’s worth, Green has handled being the subject of ongoing trade talks in very mature fashion.
A few weeks back, he spoke openly and honestly about what it all meant.
“It’s been almost 10 years now me hearing about trade rumors,” Green said.
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 14, 2020
“You ignore the noise. If it happens, it happens. (Rob Pelinka) is a respectful guy. I’m sure he’ll give me a call. I understand the nature of the business. Everybody is going to get better. Everybody’s looking to make moves and get better, so we need to do that as well.
“Hopefully, part of that process is still keeping me here. I think we bring everybody back and we do what we did this year and hopefully not in a bubble. I think the group that we have is special.”
Although Green’s time in LA was obviously cut short, he did get a ring out of the experience – so overall it was clearly a successful campaign no matter how you slice it.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
