Spurs: Proposed McDermott for Horton-Tucker deal makes no sense

Several NBA outlets are starting to suggest trades for the San Antonio Spurs, but this one with the Los Angeles Lakers isn't worth entertaining.

Shortly after gathering a panel to evaluate some trade ideas from Bleacher Report, another one came across my desk that was proposed last Wednesday by a writer for SI's FanNation. The proposal involves the Spurs shipping off their newly acquired sharpshooter, Doug McDermott, for a handful of assets from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Here's what the full trade idea looks like:

Right off the bat, the Spurs would need to cut two players if they pulled the trigger on this deal. Kent Bazemore would likely be one of the guys waived. He's shooting just 33.3% overall and 30.2% for the Lakers this season in 20 minutes per game.

Malik Monk, meanwhile, attempts the same amount of threes per game as Doug McDermott (4.9). While his percentage isn't quite as high as Doug's (42.6), it's still a respectable 36.8% in about as many minutes. Defensively, he offers as much resistance as Doug (which isn't a whole lot) or perhaps even less.

Would the San Antonio Spurs even consider this trade?

As the article states, the biggest factor in the Spurs going for this deal would be their belief in third-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker. In a bigger role with the Lakers this season, the 21-year-old is averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game on 38.3% shooting.

It's become fairly clear that Horton-Tucker isn't an outside shooter. He's never shot above 31% from 3-point range and is down to an unflattering 25.6% this season on 3.5 attempts per game. While he's young and can still evolve in that department, those are strikingly low numbers. Talen offers flashes of impressive on-ball defense, but his team defense still shows it's a work in progress quite often.

There are several reasons to believe the Spurs wouldn't even consider this deal. For one, let's look at the optics of it. Doug McDermott made it a point to emphasize it's always been his dream to play for the Spurs franchise during media day before the season began.

Trading a guy who specifically always wanted to play for San Antonio just a few games into his stint wouldn't be a good look for future prospects. On top of that, McDermott is just beginning to pick things up offensively and has consistently shot above 40% from 3-point range for his entire career.

Secondly, the Spurs are already loaded at the guard position and are already waiting to give Joshua Primo and Tre Jones more minutes in the near future. None of the guys they'd be getting back move the needle so much to sacrifice their development and one of the NBA's best shooters.

Lastly, I think it's become pretty clear Gregg Popovich isn't particularly keen on trading with the Los Angeles Lakers. The recent situation involving what some believed was tampering with the DeMar DeRozan deal points to that fact. The Kawhi Leonard situation before that was yet another example.

It'll take a better offering for the Spurs to consider a trade with the Lakers. This one just isn't it.