On July 29, 2021, the Lakers reportedly reached the one-yard line on a deal that would have brought them Buddy Hield in return for Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma.
While the merits of that original, never-completed trade could still be called into question, it all became moot a few minutes later, when the Lakers reversed course by trading a bigger sum for an even bigger name.
Adding in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the No. 22 pick in that year’s draft to the package they were offering for Hield, the Lakers audibled, instead deciding to deal three rotation players along with their 2021 first rounder for Russell Westbrook, owed more than $90 million over the following two seasons (presuming he’d opt-into the final year of his deal, which, of course, he did).