David Nwaba

With all of the moves the Rockets have made over the last few months, they now have an abundance of talent on the wing, meaning a veteran guy like David Nwaba could be on the move sooner than later. Since entering the league in 2016 with the Lakers, Nwaba has played for a new team every single year and has always been a very solid contributor on the offensive end of the court. 

Over the course of his short career, David Nwaba has averaged 7.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and has shot 49.2% from the floor primarily as a bench player. While he has had time in the starting rotation this year for the Rockets with some key players missing some time, at full strength, Nwaba is going to start getting buried in the depth chart. 

Eric Gordon, John Wall, Victor Oladipo, Danuel House, Jae’Sean Tate and Sterling Brown are all guys that David Nwaba will have to fight with all season long for minutes, which is why trading him could benefit both the Rockets and Nwaba himself. 

While he had never really been known as a reliable defender, Nwaba has really improved himself as a solid perimeter defender and is averaging a career-high 1.3 steals per game this season. The “3-and-D” presence he could bring to the Lakers second-unit could be extremely undervalued and he could end up being a very solid contributor for them in their quest for back-to-back titles. 

With him only being owed $1.8M this season, the Lakers could easily execute a trade for the 28-year old wing. They could even get away with trading Alfonzo McKinnie and a first-round pick or two second-round picks in exchange for Nwaba. 

Overall, there are a lot of benefits to bringing in a guy like David Nwaba and with him being a very affordable trade target, the Lakers could basically get him for nothing. With what he brings to the table, there is no reason why Los Angeles should not target Nwaba.