The Lakers and Mavericks had “initial” trade talks involving Julius Randle and Nerlens Noel, according to Adrian Wojnarowski on ESPN’s Full Court Press special.
Discussions broke off after Noel suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb that required surgery. The team didn’t offer a timetable for recovery after the December 6 operation, but Noel said doctors told him four to six weeks. That would have him back around mid-January, which is well in advance of the February 8 trade deadline. It remains to be seen if the Lakers will still be interested.
Both teams have obvious motives to make a deal. The Lakers are trying to clear cap room in hopes of offering two max contracts in next summer’s free agency, and Randle will have a $12.5MM cap hold. L.A. chose not to extend Randle’s rookie contract in October, and a report last month said it’s “unlikely” he will remain with the team beyond this season. Noel would bring an expiring contract, which is what the Lakers are looking for. Randle, a Dallas native, might have interest in signing long-term with the Mavericks when he becomes a restricted free agent in July.
Noel has been a disappointment in Dallas since being acquired from the Sixers at last year’s trade deadline. He was averaging 4.0 points and 4.1 rebounds through 18 games and had fallen out of the rotation before his surgery. Because he signed a $4.2MM qualifying offer to return to the Mavs this season, Noel has the option to refuse any trade.
Randles been balling good of late. Why not trade Lopez for Noel, be a good salary dump
Lopez is also an expiring contract if I remember correctly. The idea is to clear salary for next season.
Right? Lol… these amateur GM’s crack me up
Yea because you’re so great. Find something better than make fun of people on the comment section of sports articles. Man these keyboard warriors crack me up.
You want to see some amateur GM, go read old Spike Eskin articles on Sixers fake trades a few years ago. The main thing people tend to not grasp on here is salary matching. Before you fake GM go to NBA trade machine and do the trade. Real GM sucks it’s so convoluted. Noel wants too much money tho for next year. He is not a smart player on the court or off the court, all he had to do was add a mid range shot to his game in any of the offseasons, he’s lazy. That’s the scouting report on him. He is a good secondary defender not primary on the ball. Lakers want to bring in 2 max contracts. So this doesn’t make sense tbh. They should package Randle and Deng or X player and Deng, this season means nothing bc they do not own their pick. Just trying to win to screw the Sixers or Celtics basically. They would need to involve a Greg Monroe type contract to get enough cap space for George and or LeBron or Cousins. George and Cousins plus Kouz Ingram and Ball looks like a 5-8 seed at least.
Agreed… honestly as a Mavs fan this trade sounds rumored from a Mavs fan bc Noel is trash and Randle is solid with upside
Cuz the Mavs don’t want an old man
I would love this trade.