Lakers get good news on long-coveted trade target

The Los Angeles Lakers' admiration of 27-year-old guard Bruce Brown has been the worst-kept secret since NBA free agency this past offseason. The Lakers were almost immediately linked to Brown as a player they were interested in signing, but following a two-year, $45 million offer from the Indiana Pacers, the young guard appeared set to ride off into the sunset with his new team.

But things change quickly in the NBA and Brown was dealt to the Toronto Raptors earlier this season as part of the Pascal Siakam deal. Now, not only are the Lakers once again linked, but it appears Brown has a real chance to be traded for a second time this season due to Toronto's focus on building the youngest core possible.

TSN's Josh Lewenberg reported that the Raptors are "open for business" in trade talks for every player aside from Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.

"This is a team in transition, and even after a couple of big franchise-altering moves, Ujiri has made it clear that they’re not done dealing ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. Multiple league sources have confirmed the obvious, the Raptors appear to be open for business, and outside of Barnes and the two former Knicks, everything and everyone is on the table," Lewenberg writes. "If they can turn any of their vets – Trent, Dennis Schroder, Chris Boucher, the newly acquired Bruce Brown or perhaps even Poeltl – into picks or prospects that would help push the rebuild forward, it’s hard to see them passing that up."

Considering this report came out one week after ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski spoke about the Lakers and Brown on "NBA Countdown" (and did so again just days later), it's likely Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka will spend quite a bit of time on the phone as the Feb. 8 trade deadline approaches. Wojnarowski at the time stated that Brown is the player "[the Lakers have] really been focused on trying to acquire" ever since the team's Western Conference Finals loss to the Denver Nuggets last spring.

The Raptors' reported willingness and openness to trading virtually any player – including Brown – is noteworthy, but it's especially intriguing for the Lakers.

The Lakers, who have also been linked to Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, among others, appear more and more likely to eventually change things up as the days roll on. But just how active they'll choose to be is a big question and even more interesting, whether there's a path to adding both Brown and Murray. The asking price from the Hawks for the latter is likely too high to be a realistic outcome.