The Los Angeles Lakers are predicted to “stand pat” at the NBA trade deadline and instead try to make roster upgrades in the 2026 offseason.
The Athletic’s Zach Harper does not see a pathway for the Lakers to land a big fish as their payroll is currently structured to open cap space in 2026 and 2027.
“Everything about the Lakers since trading for Luka Dončić has been about prioritizing their flexibility in the summer of 2026. LeBron James has a no-trade clause, so he’s probably not going anywhere,” the NBA insider wrote on Dec. 16.
Further to Harper’s point, the Lakers have only Luka Doncic ($49.8M), Jarred Vanderbilt ($12.4M) and Jake LaRavia ($6M) on guaranteed salaries for the 2026-27 season, while Deandre Ayton ($8.1M) and Marcus Smart ($5.39M) own player options.
LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber and Jaxson Hayes could all come off the books. As for the younger members of the roster, Bronny James and rookie Adou Thiero are on partially-guaranteed deals, and the Lakers own a Team Option on Dalton Khnect’s $4.2M salary.
Fresh Start With Luka Doncic?
Essentially, the Lakers could rebuild the entire roster around Doncic if they were to go the extreme route of letting all their free agents walk. Most insiders covering the Lakers expect Austin Reaves to be offered a lucrative multi-year deal, but those plans could change if the blossoming guard is used as a sign-and-trade chip to land a big fish.
During the offseason, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne noted that the Lakers did not offer LeBron James a contract extension as doing so would disrupt their plans for 2027, when the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic could become free agents.
That reporting lined up with The Athletic’s Dan Woike, who claimed the Lakers were insistent on keeping their books clean for the summer of 2026 when they could use three tradeable first-round picks in a potential deal.
“Much of the tension [with LeBron James] appears to stem from the Lakers’ desire to keep their salary-cap sheet as clear as possible starting next summer, allowing them to find Luka Dončić’s future partner either in free agency or via trade, when they’ll have access to use first-round picks in 2026, 2031 and 2033 for a single trade.”
Lakers Trade Deadline Plans
The Lakers currently have only one tradeable first-round pick (2031 or 2031) to offer in potential deals. That asset could reportedly be used in a trade to make defensive upgrades to address their biggest roster issue, with the Lakers linked to the likes of Herb Jones, Andrew Wiggins, Keon Ellis and Daniel Gafford.
However, teams around the league don’t value the Lakers’ solitary first-round draft asset due to their new ownership group, per The Athletic.
“According to league sources, that future Lakers pick, which could be in 2031 or 2032, is less valuable than it was viewed both before the Luka Dončić trade and since Mark Walter’s acquisition of the franchise,” Woike reported on Dec. 11.
“The belief is that since Walter has proven to be an effective owner with the Los Angeles Dodgers, that he and whoever he entrusts the franchise to will, at minimum, keep it from the kind of freefall that would truly make that future first-round pick less of a lottery ticket.”
Most analysts consider the Lakers to be inferior to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs, the consensus four best teams in the West, as currently constructed. However, that viewpoint could change if they can land a quality perimeter defender ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
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