Is it trained for Andrew Wiggins worth it for the Los Angeles Lakers?

Welcome to the Lakers Nation.com podcast. My name's Trevor Lane. Still on vacation last day here in the Maldives, but wanted to talk a little bit about Andrew Wiggins and the recent reports linking him to the Lakers. Well, I've got a moment here. We're going to be heading out to dinner in just a few minutes. But had a few moments here. Wanted to jump on real quick and talk a little bit about this. Did get some details on it. Take a look at this, though. Look at the floor in here. How cool is that? You can see it right down. I've seen a few fish through there, things of that nature. Even saw a shark, which was pretty cool. All right, let's talk a little bit about this old Andrew Wiggins situation that we've got going on here.

So this is now the second report. We've got one from Dan Wojke of the athletic linking the Lakers to a potential move for Andrew Wiggins and essentially explaining the Lakers are going to be more aggressive now that they've got Luca Donchich locked in on the new contract,

the deal that he's got the extension they gave him back in August.

That plus Luca's extremely successful play in Eurobasket has got the Lakers reportedly a bit more aggressive out there on the trade market.

So according to Wiki, after a dominant run leading Slovenia at Eurobasket, Donchich can turn his attention to the Lakers,

and after the way he looked, the Lakers can turn even more attention towards him.

According to team and league sources, the Lakers' stance on roster improvements heading into this season has shifted because of the start of this new chapter together.

While the Lakers had resisted scenarios in which the team would take on contracts,

that lasted beyond 2025, 2026 earlier this summer, Donchich's multi-year commitment has nudged

L.A.'s priorities in a more aggressive direction. And one area the team is focused on upgrading

is on the wing, where it needs more two-way talent. A player like Miami's Andrew Wiggins, whom the Lakers weren't interested in earlier this

summer, is now a more desirable player, provided the price is right.

Okay.

So write that in there.

Let's talk a little bit about that because this is now the second time in what, less than a

week, that Andrew Wiggins, his name, has come up as a potential

target for your Los Angeles Lakers. And I do think that when we look at what the Lakers

could potentially do to get Andrew Wiggins, he is a worthwhile target. He is somebody that

conceptually would really fit what this team needs. We talk about two-way talent on the wing.

You're looking for somebody who can defend ideally like two through four, even two through three, I think would be okay. What are the problems this Lakers roster has? And we've talked about it quite a bit, has been having too many players who are at their best when they're defending fours. And that would include LeBron, that would include Ruey Hachemura, that would include potentially even Luca Dajic. I mean, a slower-footed three, a four, he's really going to be more suited to defending that type of player than a one or a two, even though we tend to slot him in as a point guard on this roster that really only describes his offensive role. It doesn't really describe what he does on the defensive side of the ball. So what the Lakers really need is somebody that can defend something other than fours and ideally some twos, things of that nature. They could certainly use a point of attack defender at the one as well. They ask Austin Reeves to do that quite a bit. That can be taxing for him. We're going to see it opening night. He's going to have to defend Steph Curry quite a bit.

Marcus Smart, does he check boxes defensively?

...