The Los Angeles Lakers
reportedly would like to add one more center to their roster in order to have enough depth to absorb a potential injury to new starter Walker Kessler. They currently have Kevon Looney and Sandro Mamukelashvili slated as their backup centers, but neither can likely be counted on to play a significant number of minutes at the position should Kessler be unavailable for more than a few games.Moussa Diabate of the Charlotte Hornets is a big man that Lakers reporter Jovan Buha recently said could be on the team's radar. He is 6-foot-10 and just 24 years of age, and while he weighs only 210 pounds, he has a wingspan of nearly 7-foot-3 and a decent 36.5-inch vertical leap.
Sai Mohan proposed a three-team trade that would give the
Lakers Diabate, as well as young wing Liam McNeeley and a 2033 second-round draft pick for Bronny James and Dalton Knecht.
"After three quiet seasons, Diabate flashed starter potential last year, setting career highs with 7.9 points and 8.7 rebounds across 73 games (47 starts) for the Hornets," Mohan wrote. "The 24-year-old Frenchman possesses the rim-running skill set to feed off Luka Doncic’s playmaking — both in the half and fullcourt. Furthermore, he has shown the ability to be a solid rim protector, and was instrumental to the Hornets enjoying a midseason resurgence on the defensive end last year.
"Diabate would make an ideal backup to Walker Kessler, with the potential to share the floor alongside the Lakers’ new starting center thanks to Kessler’s expanding three-point range. At age 24, he also fits into the Lakers’ new strategy to go younger and more agile after being criticized for being old and unathletic the last few years."
One would have to wonder why a promising team like the Hornets that got hot late last season would part with someone such as Diabate. Mohan gave a simple reason.
"Why would the Hornets agree to move on a young big with upside? It’s simple — Diabate is an unrestricted free agent next year, and the Hornets need to choose between the Frenchman and Ryan Kalkbrenner as their center of the future. Most pundits would agree that the latter flashed more potential as a rookie and is worth investing in."
Diabate is owed $2.46 million for this coming season, so he could be an inexpensive get for Los Angeles if the Hornets are willing to play ball.
No matter how much James realistically improves this coming season, it is hard to imagine him getting any real playing time on the Lakers, given their solid guard depth, as well as their need to find playing time for promising rookie Cameron Carr.
While there are reports that the organization thinks highly of James, his best value to the team at this point could be as a trade asset of some sort.
The same is likely true of Knecht, who showed flashes of real promise as a rookie during the 2024-25 season but hasn't played well since. Some feel the wing, who was the No. 17 pick in the 2024 draft, is now a bust, but there could be a chance that he's salvageable on another team where he would actually get playing time.
In two NBA seasons, Knecht has averaged 7.1 points in 15.5 minutes a game while shooting 46% from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Writer proposes trade that unloads Bronny James for young center
