Lakers dodged a Zach LaVine shaped bullet

Zach LaVine has become somewhat of an immovable object for the Chicago Bulls front office. The two-time All-Star has reportedly been available for trade for the past 12 months. Yet, his mind-boggling five-year $215 million contract, which earns him $43 million this season, has deterred any interested party from firming up their interest.

LaVine is being paid like a superstar, earning paychecks usually reserved for a top-15 or top-10 player. Yet, his impact on the court has been far from that production level. Therefore, any team that decides to trade for him knows they're overpaying him in the hope he can help lead them to a championship.

Enter the Los Angeles Lakers. Rob Pelinka has a long history of making questionable decisions in search of a championship. According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Lakers held preliminary trade discussions with the Bulls earlier this season.  

"A source also said that there was early-season talk about LaVine and the Lakers, but the puzzle didn’t have the right pieces at the time," Cowley reported. "With Los Angeles moving the D’Angelo Russell contract a few weeks ago for Dorian Finney-Smith, the puzzle was all but thrown in the garbage."

LaVine is at his best when he has the ball in his hands. During his two All-Star seasons, the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, his usage rate was 31.2% and 29.5%, respectively. He's been in the top five percentile of usage rate for his entire stint with the Bulls. Yet, with the Lakers, LaVine would be tasked with a significantly different role, which would see his usage and touches drastically diminish. 

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the two juggernauts for the Lakers. We've seen multiple high-level ball handlers struggle to assimilate to lesser roles next to those two stars, with Russell Westbrook and D'Angelo Russell being two of the most notable names. LaVine would likely struggle in a similar way. 

It doesn't make sense for the Lakers to acquire LaVine, given how previous attempts at ball-dominant guard scorers have turned out. Moreover, LaVine would significantly hamstring the franchise's flexibility moving forward.

LaVine is better suited to being an overpaid star on a peripheral team in need of ball-handling and shot creation. Unfortunately, that means Chicago may see LaVine remain with the franchise until his contract has wound down some more. They knew giving him such a big payday was a risk, and now they're facing that reality. For the Lakers, though, they've likely dodged a bullet. LaVine wouldn't have made sense on that roster, not with how it's currently constructed, anyway.