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Lakers named landing spot for $68 million Pelicans defensive star after Yves Missi trade rejection originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Los Angeles Lakers' interest in New Orleans Pelicans All-Rookie center Yves Missi is no secret.
The Lakers have been linked to the former first-round pick for the past few months. With the 17-time NBA champions hoping to strengthen a relatively weak frontcourt unit, many are under the impression that acquiring Missi could be a replaceable addition to the franchise.
Per a report from SNY’s Ian Begley, though, the Pelicans shut down the idea of trading Missi to the Lakers by rejecting an offer from Los Angeles.
“Multiple teams, including the Lakers, have reached out to the Pelicans about Yves Missi, but the Pelicans have resisted those offers,” Begley wrote Tuesday.
Fortunately for the Lakers, they appear to be a viable landing spot for Missi’s 6-foot-7 teammate, who’s emerged as a defensive star for New Orleans.
“The Pelicans are receiving strong trade inquiries on Herb Jones,” NBA reporter Evan Sidery wrote on X/Twitter Thursday. “The Lakers and (Indiana) Pacers are among the teams to recently express significant interest. It would likely take a package of prospects and/or picks for New Orleans to offload Jones.”
Jones’ defensive contributions have helped him emerge as a highly coveted 6-foot-7 stud viewed as a worthwhile addition for any contending franchise. The Lakers could certainly be that organization this summer, as it would be hard to argue that their perimeter and interior defense don’t need plenty of work.
Jones, who earned first-team All-Defensive team honors during his third NBA season, has impressed thus far with his quick hands, good instincts as an off-ball defender, and commitment to being in the spots more often than not.
The Alabama product has a career defensive rating of 113.7 and has recorded at least 1.4 steals in each of his first seasons. It’ll be interesting to see how aggressively the Lakers pursue Jones moving forward.
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