The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly still monitoring the market for a big man, despite acquiring Walker Kessler and Kevon Looney this offseason. A potential trade idea involves flipping Jaden Hardy for Denver Nuggets big man Zeke Nnaji, who won a championship alongside Nikola Jokic in 2023. The Lakers would take on Nnaji's $7.4M salary, while the Nuggets would acquire Hardy's $6M expiring deal. Nnaji has a $7.4M player option for next season, but that shouldn't be viewed as a big risk since he can be moved again. The Lakers could potentially ask the Nuggets to sweeten the pot with a second-round pick, given that Denver is desperate to reduce its payroll to avoid financial penalties. Jaden Hardy, who was acquired as part of the Deandre Ayton trade, is projected to be lost in the shuffle of the Lakers' deep backcourt rotation. Hardy showed the ability to be a solid backup point guard during his time with the Dallas Mavericks. He continued to shine with the Washington Wizards, where he averaged a career-high 12.6 points in 23 games, while making an impressive 2.5 threes per game at an impressive clip of 42%. The Lakers have multitude of reasons to execute this hypothetical trade, as Kessler and Looney don't inspire confidence as the only members of the front-court rotation. Furthermore, Hardy is expected to battle for minutes with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Bronny James, rookie Cameron Carr and Matisse Thybulle. The Nuggets, on the other hand, would benefit from adding a young scoring option like Jaden Hardy, which would fully round out the guard rotation, while offloading Zeke Nnaji would simultaneously help reduce their burgeoning payroll. It also helps that Hardy's contract contains a $6M team option for 2027-28, which the Nuggets can simply decline if he doesn't prove to be a good fit. The trade would be a straight up one-on-one deal, with the Lakers taking on Nnaji's salary and the Nuggets acquiring Hardy's expiring deal. The Lakers could use a big man like Nnaji to bolster their frontcourt, and the Nuggets could use a young scoring option like Hardy to round out their guard rotation.