Roy Hibbert could be playing for another team soon if rumors are true that the Los Angeles Lakers are looking for a dance partner to whom they can unload the veteran center.
Hibbert joined the Lakers this season but was more of an assurance that the team would go through the 2015–16 National Basketball Association (NBA) season with a certified center in two. The deal likely involved an evaluation of sorts for the Lakers to see if it was plausible to keep him long term.
But as everyone knows, the Lakers haven't exactly come up big and are not expected to make it to the playoffs for the third straight year.
With Hibbert likely lost at season's end anyway, it would be best to move him as early as now and prepare for next season.
The NBA trade deadline is still about three weeks away so there is a chance that Hibbert could end up playing for another team. But the problem right now is that he does carry a hefty paycheck, $15 million to be exact.
With those figures, the Lakers are bound to have a hard time finding a team that could squeeze Hibbert in, although LakeShowlife.com did suggest the Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls would have been fit.
Then again, the Lakers don't have to enter a trade to hook up Noah since the Bulls' center will eventually become a free agent anyway. And even if a trade were pulled off, the Lakers would have ended up with an inactive player after Noah went down with a season-ending shoulder injury.
The Lakers are looking to trade Hibbert to a team who may eventually make the playoffs. Despite his lackadaisical season, Hibbert is still a force on the defensive end. He can also help out a bit in scoring and, of course, help in the rebounding department, something that playoff-bound teams could do well with. The question right now is which team that will be.
