Lakers Reportedly Nearly Traded for Former Pistons Center This Offseason

The Los Angeles Lakers head to Detroit on Sunday with an 8-2 record, a four-game win streak and a share of the best mark in the Western Conference, but a new report says their center room could have looked very different.

According to Lakers insider Jovan Buha, center Isaiah Stewart was potentially headed to Los Angeles this summer before the Pistons moved him to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Buha brought it up on his Buha's Block podcast, and HoopsHype transcribed his comments on Saturday.

"I had heard about, like, intel at the time that Stewart was potentially going to be a Laker, and I was on board with that as long as it wasn't the starting spot," Buha said.

Buha said he heard a couple of different versions of the plan, and he did not share any trade terms, so it is not clear how far the talks went or whether Stewart would have taken the starting job that went to center Walker Kessler in July.

Stewart told his side of it in an August interview with Andscape's Marc J. Spears, he said he was first expected to land with the Lakers or the Wizards, before his agent called back and said Pistons president Trajan Langdon had a deal from Memphis that he could not turn down.

The trade became official on July 8 as part of a six-team deal, with Memphis sending three second-round picks to Detroit.

The Lakers went a different way, trading center Deandre Ayton to Washington on July 7 and landed Kessler from Utah in a sign-and-trade the next day, giving up four first-round picks or swaps to get him.

That move looks like a win so far, with Kessler averaging 14.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks this season, and he had 16 points and 12 rebounds in Friday's 124-118 win over Portland, a night when guard Luka Doncic scored 53.

He is also talking openly about what the Lakers still need to fix, which is a good sign for a player in his first year with the team.

Stewart has been solid in Memphis, averaging 11.9 points in seven games, but he is out right now with a right knee bone bruise.

I agree with Buha that Stewart would have made the most sense as a backup, because the Lakers still lean hard on Kessler and the bench behind him is thin.

Center Kevon Looney is averaging just 5.8 minutes in five games and did not play against Portland, while forward Sandro Mamukelashvili has been a useful piece off the bench.

It is still the one spot on this roster I would look to upgrade.

Sunday's game in Detroit starts a back-to-back that ends in Atlanta on Monday, and Doncic is questionable with lower back tightness, so the depth behind the starters will get tested.

The Pistons will be without center Jalen Duren, who is out with a right hamstring strain.

With Doncic playing at an MVP level, a steady big off the bench is a small move that could pay off later in the season.