Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura key for L.A. Lakers after being in Phoenix Suns' trade talks

Two players Phoenix didn't land in trades this season have helped the Los Angeles Lakers reach the Western Conference finals — Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura.

Vanderbilt has played standout defense and started all but one playoff game for the seventh-seeded Lakers while Hachimura is averaging 11.2 points off the bench in the playoffs.

The Lakers started their improbable postseason run with Hachimura scoring a playoff career-high 29 points in a Game 1 victory at the second-seeded Grizzlies.

They open their conference finals series Tuesday against Denver. The No. 1-seeded Nuggets eliminated the fourth-seeded Suns in six games of the West semifinals.

Phoenix had its sights on landing Vanderbilt before the season and Hachimura weeks before the Feb. 9 trade deadline, but both deals fell through.

The Lakers wound up with both and they’ve been key contributors in the playoffs.

Phoenix looked to deal Jae Crowder to Utah for Bojan Bogdanovic in September. Crowder and the Suns had “mutually agreed” he’d miss training camp as they looked to trade the forward who played a key role in them reaching the 2021 NBA Finals and having the NBA’s best record last season at 64-18.

The deal would’ve brought a proven double-digit scorer who can shoot the 3 in the 6-7 Bogdanovic, but talks broke down when the Suns also wanted Vanderbilt, who the Jazz acquired from Minnesota in the Rudy Gobert deal earlier that summer.

Utah ended up trading Bogdanovic to Detroit for Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee, who the Suns later signed to a pair of 10-day deals during the season and later a two-way contract.

Then in January, the Suns were reportedly looking to move Crowder in a three-team deal for Hachimura, who was with Washington, but that never materialized. Milwaukee was the third team in the deal.

Hachimura had scored a career-high 30 points on Dec. 28 against the Suns on 11-of-13 shooting in 28 minutes of a 25-point Wizards' win. The Lakers then traded Kendrick Nunn and multiple second-round picks to Washington for Hachimura in late January.

Phoenix finally dealt Crowder to Brooklyn as part of the Kevin Durant blockbuster deal right before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

Crowder finally ended up in Milwaukee during perhaps the biggest slew of major deadline deals in NBA history, with another one being the Lakers landing Vanderbilt in a three-team, eight-player deal featuring Russell Westbrook.

Hachimura and Vanderbilt have been key contributors for the Lakers in the playoffs. The 6-8 Vanderbilt is an active and athletic forward who guards multiple positions and does work on the offensive glass.

The Lakers are first in the postseason in defensive rating thanks in part to Vanderbilt checking some of the game’s best perimeter players.

He had success guarding Grizzlies All-Star Ja Morant in the first round and Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry in the conference semifinals. With Anthony Davis patrolling the paint, Vanderbilt has been aggressive on the defensive end as he’s averaging a block a game in the postseason.

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Vanderbilt will likely draw the assignment of defending Jamal Murray in the conference finals. Murray is coming off a 26-point performance in the Game 6 closeout win against the Suns.

The Nuggets guard is averaging 25.9 points in the postseason on 46.1% shooting (39.5% from 3).

Vanderbilt isn’t a scorer as evidenced by averaging 6.2 points for his career, but the 24-year-old out of Kentucky scored a career playoff-best 15 points in helping the Lakers top the Grizzles in a Game 4 win to give them a 3-1 series lead.

Vanderbilt followed that up with nine points in a Game 6 closeout victory, going 3-of-8 from 3, both playoff career highs. He’s averaging 1.6 offensive rebounds in the playoffs.

As for Hachimura, he averaged 9.6 points in 33 regular-season games for the Lakers, but the 6-8 forward has stepped up his offensive production in the playoffs.

He scored 12 points in the play-in game Los Angeles won in overtime, 108-102, over his former team, Minnesota, to earn the seventh seed in the playoffs.

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The Lakers are fourth in the postseason in bench scoring per game at 31.4 with Hachimura accounting for 35.5% of those points.

Shooting 57% from the field in the playoffs, Hachimura is knocking down a heated 53.5% of his shots from 3 after hitting just 29.6% of his 3-pointers in the regular season for the Lakers.

The 25-year-old from Japan who played college ball at Gonzaga has posted three 20-point games in the playoffs with the first two coming in Game 1 and Game 2 of the first round.

Hachimura splashed 5-of-6 from 3, both playoff career highs, in that 29-point Game 1 at Memphis. He posted 20 points in Game 2 the Lakers lost and 16 in Game 3 they won to take a 2-1 series lead.

Cooking from 3, Hachimura hit 75% of his 3s (9-of-12) in his first three playoff games with the Lakers.

His third 20-point postseason game came in a Game 2 loss at Golden State that evened the West semifinals series at 1-1. He scored 21 points, going 4-of-6 from 3.

Hachimura has scored a total of 20 points in the Lakers’ last four playoff games with nine coming in Game 6 Friday as he went 5-of-6 from the line.

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Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Vanderbilt, Hachimura key for Lakers after being in Suns' trade talks