(Basketball news) According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania, the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers are close to sending Patrick Beverley to Lakers as the problem child returns to LA but this time playing for the Purple and Gold. Wojnarowski also reported that the teams are in “advanced talks” on a trade that will see Beverley come to the Lakers, and Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson will move to the Utah Jazz. He added there is no draft compensation or picks included in the move.
Meanwhile, Charania added more, indicating that the deal is presumably already finalized. In early July, Beverley was part of a trade package that saw him move to the Utah Jazz and All-Star center Rudy Gobert subsequently moved to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers represent his third team of the summer, although he never played for the Jazz, back in May, Beverley made it public saying that he would want to play for the Lakers if he could play for any team that wasn’t the Timberwolves. The veteran 3-and-D guard has three All-Defensive Team appearance teams to his name aside from that he has made the playoffs every season of his 10-year career. Now, he’ll hope to help guide the Los Angeles Lakers back where they belong following a one-year hiatus in 2021-22.
Beverley is a quality defensive point guard who has a reputation of being an irritating clog for the other teams, but he also acts as a leader who holds guys on his own team accountable. Last season in Minnesota he was seen as one of the linchpins that turned the Timberwolves’ defense from one of the bottom five in the league to the top 10 defensive teams in the NBA Darvin Ham is hoping he can have the same impact on the Lakers as last season he averaged 9.2 points and 4.6 assists a game for the Timberwolves, shooting 34.3% from 3. He’s a positive offensive player who can work off the ball and shoot clutch threes when required. He is expected to more open shots since the majority of the ball will be with LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
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