Why are the Los Angeles Lakers favorites to win back-to-back NBA championships? Well, they have a guy named LeBron James who is pretty good at basketball, but they also rank 10th in the league in offensive efficiency and 1st in defensive efficiency. Head coach Frank Vogel has this team buying into his defensive philosophy and they have been one of the most dominant defensive teams to date. 

They are only allowing 105.2 points per game to their opponents, second-best in the NBA, and as a result, they are getting more players involved in their rotations this year. While we all know about the production James, AD, Schroder and Harrell give the Lakers, the production that guys like Alex Caruso, Wesley Matthews and Talen Horton-Tucker give L.A. is often overlooked. 

Having key role players come off-the-bench is important to any championship caliber team and bench play is one of the main reasons why the Lakers were so successful last year. Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso were three key role players off-the-bench for the Lakers last year and were instrumental to their success in winning a championship.

Their roster right now has the makings of being another championship winning team, but if there is one thing we know about the Lakers’ front-office and GM Rob Pelinka, is that they are always looking for ways to make their team better around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The New Orleans Pelicans have made JJ Redick available in trade talks and the veteran sharpshooter could be a great fit in Los Angeles. Could the Lakers look to add even more talent to their roster during their title defense season?

Let’s take a look at a possible trade between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Lakers that would send JJ Redick to the Lakers.