As the Los Angeles Lakers face another losing season and probably the worst in franchise history, they are prone to trade talks and one player drawing interest is 2015 second overall pick D'Angelo Russell.
Russell is playing fine in his rookie year but his development, like with any other youngster in the Lakers roster, is hindered by franchise star Kobe Bryant's farewell tour.
In 53 games (22 starts) played so far this 2015–16 season, Russell is averaging 12.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 27.1 minutes of action per outing.
Because of the struggles Russell is having this season, along with his role with the Lakers, he became an early trade piece in the rumor mill.
Now, renowned sports analyst Bill Simmons suggested in his recent podcast a number of potential trade deals, one of them involving Russell.
Simmons presented a deal that sends Russell to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for second-year forward Jabari Parker. This trade deal can possibly happen since it works, contract-wise, and the difference in their numbers is not significant.
However, the Lakers are banking on their young and budding players for their rebuilding phase, especially once Bryant officially retires after the season.
The Bucks are also doing the same, relying on their young core that already brought success to the franchise after a trip to the playoffs last season.
However, with both teams not faring well as of the moment, this may prompt for the suggested switch to materialize.
The Lakers are last in the Western Conference standings this season with an 11–44 record. Last season, they set a franchise-worst winning only 21 games.
Milwaukee on the other hand is 13th in the East with a 22–32 record, failing to live up to the promise it had last season when it entered the playoffs as the sixth-seed and faced the Chicago Bulls in the first round.
