Marc Stein made Andrew Wiggins the name on the tip of every tongue in Los Angeles after connecting him as a potential trade target in a recent intel drop. Bleacher Report immediately came up with a trade idea to get Wiggins donning the purple and gold of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Eric Pincus clearly read the intel drop by Stein as well, because the NBA writer moved fast with this one. Pincus suggested the following deal to land Wiggins in Hollywood.
Los Angeles Lakers
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Andrew Wiggins
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Drew Timme
Miami Heat
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Rui Hachimura
Dalton Knecht
$10 million trade exception (Wiggins)
Brooklyn Nets
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Maxi Kleber
2026 protected Brooklyn second-rounder (from Heat)
$4.6 million (from Nets)
$2 million (from Lakers)
The fallout from this trade comfortably leaves the Lakers in a position where title contention should immediately be in their future. There are plenty of reasons to love this deal for Los Angeles.
Lakers pay affordable price for all-in push
Luka Doncic told the Lakers after signing his brand-new extension that chasing championships is what the goal was. This deal upgrades the starting lineup by replacing Rui Hachimura with a more complementary fit in Wiggins.
The Miami Heat forward is exactly the type of two-way swingman that Stein said the Lakers would want. Wiggins would be a low effort mouth for Doncic to feed on offense, while being capable of taking on the defensive challenges for the Lakers on the other end.
The latter is what should particularly interest Rob Pelinka at the moment. The Lakers are light on defenders who can take a leading role in the gameplan on that end. Wiggins fits the mold.
The biggest selling point of the deal proposed by Pincus would be the Heat easing up on the ridiculous asking price that was reported earlier in the offseason. The Lakers do give up Hachimura and Dalton Knecht, but they are able to keep their first-round draft capital to explore additional moves in chasing a title, should they still feel the need to upgrade another spot like backup center.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. is no mere throw-in either. The former 2023 first-round pick averaged 8.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, shooting 46.1 percent from the field, in 2024-25. That is a quality rotational player for the Lakers.
Playing with Doncic would hopefully allow Jaquez to boost an underwhelming 31.8 percent mark from 3-point in his career. The addition of the Heat wing would quietly allow Pelinka to erase a brutal mistake from the 2023 NBA Draft when the team opted for Jalen Hood-Schifino one pick ahead of Jaquez.
Ultimately, if this type of deal was on the table for the Lakers, it would not warrant much discussion. Pelinka should pull the trigger on the trade 10 out of 10 times.