NBA Rumours: Los Angeles Lakers reportedly in trade talks for Trevor Ariza

The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly in trade talks with the Phoenix Suns and one other team to acquire Small Forward Trevor Ariza in a three-team deal.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the trade would be a three-team deal involving Ariza, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a ‘draft asset’. Supposedly Phoenix would get a ‘playmaking guard’ and the aforementioned draft asset. Phoenix is currently in full rebuild mode and the draft asset could definitely improve their chances of championships in the future.

When I think playmaking guards on the Lakers two players immediately stand out to me and those are Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo. Lonzo has definitely not lived up to the hype surrounding him at the start of his rookie year but he is still only 21 years old and is definitely showing improvements in his game, so I believe of the two Rondo will be the one involved in the trade.

This means Caldwell-Pope would end up on the third team involved in the trade, although his contract will allow him to veto it. However, Rich Paul (Pope’s agent) wants to find a trade partner that will allow the guard more playing time before becoming a free agent this summer.

Ariza would bring a nice veteran presence to the team and has playoff experience which could be very valuable to the Lakers' young core come April. Ariza is currently in his 14th NBA season so he definitely has some experience and wise words he could give to the youngsters.

Ariza is currently averaging 9.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 3.3 APG on 33.6 minutes in his first season with the Suns. Caldwell-Pope, on the other hand, is averaging 8.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 1.6 APG on 21.5 minutes a game.

Wojnarowski was quoted saying that the trade cannot be finalised until Saturday because the Suns signed Ariza this past offseason.