The Los Angeles Lakers are in a precarious position entering the 2025 offseason. Unlike many other title contenders, they don’t have the assets to improve their roster significantly. Yet, they have two megastars in LeBron James and Luka Doncic, who have previously carried subpar rosters to deep playoff runs.
The Lakers have little leverage in trade talks, but can make moves around the edges to bolster their title chances.
One such proposed Lakers trade pitch sees hometown star DeMar DeRozan link up with James and Doncic to form a new Big 3.
Sporting News’ Colby Faria proposed a deal that would also see bruising center Jonas Valanciunas head to Los Angeles.
Lakers would receive: DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas
Kings would receive: Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht, Maxi Kleber, 2031 First-Round Pick (unprotected)
Valanciunas, a Good Fit For Lakers?
Faria reasoned that DeRozan and Valanciunas, two seasoned pros, would fit in seamlessly with the Lakers’ veteran team.
“For the Lakers, a starting lineup of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Demar Derozan, LeBron James, and Jonas Valanciunas, while not mortgaging your future is more than worth the risk for Rob Pelinka and JJ Reddick,” he wrote on May 22.
“The Lakers would have two real chances at a ring, and if it doesn’t work, Derozan and Valanciunas are both off the books in the summer of 2027 and James will have likely retired by that point, freeing up tons of money to surround a what-would-be 28-year-old Doncic with viable talent.”
DeRozan had previously said he wanted to join the Lakers before the 2023-24 season before signing with the Kings.
“Obviously, I have my selfish reasons of wanting to be able to play at home [in Los Angeles], but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way,” he told The Athletic’s Sam Amick in September 2024.
“And sometimes it probably isn’t the best decision for me either. So after that didn’t happen, I didn’t dwell on it. I wasn’t mad. They made their choice, and I just left it at that.”
Lakers Won’t Trade Austin Reaves Easily
The trade could be very favorable to the Lakers as they’d hold onto Austin Reaves, a player who took a big leap in the 2024-25 season, averaging career-highs across the board.
According to the Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike, the Lakers value Reaves enormously and are unwilling to trade the fourth-year guard unless it’s for an elite big man.
“[Reaves] is not viewed as “untradeable” because almost no one in the NBA is untradeable,” he wrote in his newsletter on May 15.
“But if the Lakers are going to trade him for a center, they’re going to want one that is foundationally important — a build-around type and not a fill-in toward the obvious need they have at center (and will need to address in other ways).
“If one of the best centers in the NBA were available, the conversations might be different, but at least now, during the first part of the offseason, that just isn’t the case.”
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