Los Angeles Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak Says 'Nobody's Off Limits' In Trade Discussions

The Los Angeles Lakers need to make changes and they need to make them fast as the team just completed its worst season in franchise history by going 17-65 during Kobe Bryant‘s final season. With Kobe out the door, general manager Mitch Kupchak knows that he has a lot of work ahead of him.

One thing Kupchak has going for him is a number of young and talented players. But with the urgency to improve rather than continue to develop for the future, it seems the Lakers’ general manager would be open to using those guys as trade bait.

“Nobody’s off limits,” he said, via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.

That means players like D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle could very well end up being at the center of trade discussions this offseason. The Lakers also found out on Tuesday night that they have the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft which could very well end up being either Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram.

There have been rumors circulating that two of the Lakers’ biggest free agency targets will be DeMar DeRozan and Festus Ezeli which are two solid pieces, but those two alone won’t do much to move the team any closer to the playoffs. Now if the Lakers could package some pieces together and acquire Paul George like rumors have also suggested, then that would certainly move the needle.

Either way, this is an extremely important offseason for Kupchak and the future of the Lakers franchise.