The Pacers chuckled when the Lakers approached them about Brogdon, but Chad Buchanan’s latest interview should give pause to the potential of using LA to fill Indy’s needs with a three-team trade.

In a recent interview, Buchanan stated the Pacers are looking for a veteran to help guide their young core. Flipping Brogdon for Hayward would not only bring the veteran voice to the locker room, but fill the need they have at the forward position. The Pacers were beaten in the negotiations to acquire Hayward a while ago when he landed his absurdly high new contract, but now that they’re in rebuild mode, that dollar amount doesn’t matter as much. In this deal, they also land a future first round pick that will be beyond the time frame of LeBron in LA, so it could be very valuable.

For the Lakers, they land Brogdon as their starting PG and move Westbrook off of being a primary ball handler. It’s a trade they’ve been interested in since the beginning of the offseason and to see it come at this price would be a big win for them. Who cares about the salary cap, it’s LA.

For the Hornets, they have a few needs remaining this offseason. They need to re-sign Bridges long-term, they need more salary cap space, they need to clear the Hayward contract, and they need more guard depth. Check. Check. Check. Check. This trade makes it all possible. Both Nunn and THT would be valuable depth to a guard rotation that currently has only three players in Rozier, Ball and Bouknight. This also lowers their cap by $11 million this year, $19 million next year, and they’d have THT as a future trade chip.