Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[DallasMaverick]

The Vando part is definitely a longshot. I tried to preface it with a bunch of qualifiers that no one besides Wood/Lakers/Mavs could answer. 

But my reading of the tea leaves is that while Vanderbilt was a great get for the Lakers, they are in no way tied to him. They just signed a "replacement" in Prince and they just committed a bunch of money to Rui. I can also see why they'd be very motivated for Wood. AD's health is always a risky thing to bet on, and Wood could fill that AD role (sans defense) pretty well. 

In fact, the Lakers have 1 backup center. Their current roster is as follows:

D'Lo/Vincent
Reaves/Hood-Schifino/Christie
Lebron/Reddish/Lewis
Rui/Vando/Prince
Davis/Hayes 

Hayes was just cut by NOP in the last year of his rookie deal and is a 1 dimensional center. Having Wood be a backup to AD makes a lot of sense. I agree that the Lakers could just sign Wood outright, but that only works if Wood agrees to a vet min deal. And I don't see why Wood would be motivated to sign a vet min deal to play backup on the Lakers. If anything it'd make more sense for him to go to any other team that will feature him to restore his value with that kind of contract. 

To me, that explains why the Lakers would be at least interested in a SnT. That way they guarantee Wood wanting to be there, get him locked up on a 3 year value deal, and it only costs them Vanderbilt with no other assets at a position where they have depth.

Let's say the Lakers just wait for some other team to offer him more than the vet min, and nobody does.  If the money is equal, wouldn't he want to sign with the team that can give him the most playing time? 

AD has certainly proved his fragility over the years, so maybe it's a decent bet to go to LA.

Who would have minutes available for him?