The Lakers have a few places to seek for improvement ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline.
The Los Angeles Lakers still need to work around 24 hours until the NBA trade deadline. According to team sources, there is a renewed sense of excitement about contending today, as well as the extended runway that dealing for a 25-year-old Luka Doncic provides. The Lakers still have a few options to maximise their roster, and Rob Pelinka admitted at least one pressing necessity.
The question, as usual, is whether the market will supply enough choices at a price that Pelinka is ready to accept.
So, without further ado, and as soon as possible before everything becomes moot as it was before the Doncic deal, let’s examine how the Lakers can offer him and LeBron James a legitimate shot to compete for a title this season.
Centre of Attention
The Lakers needed a centre even before dealing Anthony Davis. Now, their centre rotation of healthy players with genuine NBA contracts is as follows: Jaxon Hayes. That is it.
Hayes will appear better as a lob threat next to creators like Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves, but he is still prone to foul trouble and has already missed two chunks of the season due to ailments.
Christian Wood has been absent all season, and the mystery surrounding his status leads one to fear he will not return at all. Maxi Kleber injured his foot in late January and is not likely to return this season. Christian Koloko and Trey Jemison III are both good two-way players, but if the Lakers are to compete for a title, they will need much more.
Pelinka stated at Doncic’s introductory news conference that he understands the Lakers’ need for more help at the position, but that the market for centres has dried up and that he is likely looking to make a lesser move to shore up the rotation. This might have been a negotiating technique, and by “dried up,” he most likely meant in terms of players available at rates he can afford, but if we take him at his word, the Lakers will have to be inventive.
According to sources, the Lakers are looking to trade Kleber and draft capital to add a healthy big man. They’re also definitely open to trading Wood, Cam Reddish (who has been away recently for personal reasons), and lower-tier draft picks/swaps in order to secure a centre, but that type of move normally happens after all other alternatives have been exhausted.
If Pelinka decides to go for it with their one remaining first-round pick, keep an eye on Nic Claxton or Robert Williams III. The Lakers have spoken with both the Brooklyn Nets and the Portland Trail Blazers about their respective teams, but they are hesitant to disrupt their core rotation right now.
Claxton earns $27 million, which would necessitate trading Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent, as well as the first and second round picks and maybe a trade.
Williams earns far less than Claxton at $12.4 million, but Portland wants an unprotected first-round pick for him, and given his injury history, the Lakers aren’t thrilled with that price.
Perimeter Options
With Doncic, James, and Reaves, the Lakers’ demand for initiation and inventiveness is pretty well met. Gabe Vincent has also been playing well recently, which has helped to stabilise the bench minutes. When JJ Redick works out how to stagger minutes for his primary creators, bench offence should no longer be a worry, as it has been since D’Angelo Russell’s trade.
Trading Max Christie also means the Lakers shipped out their greatest perimeter defender, as Redick highlighted after Tuesday night’s blowout win against the Los Angeles Clippers. This is also where dealing Vincent would have repercussions, since he is their final genuine point-of-attack defender at point guard, and they are unlikely to find a player at his defensive level who can also spread the floor the way he has recently.
According to a source, Bruce Brown remains an option for the Lakers, but obtaining him is tough to arrange. Either the Lakers had to trade Hachimura, Wood, Hayes, and Reddish, plus a second, or they had to find a way to drop far enough below the first apron to sign him through a buyout. Neither seems very likely just now.
If the Lakers are able to clear a roster spot and maintain the requisite flexibility, it appears that they will solve this through a more feasible buyout option than Brown.
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