December 15th marked the unofficial start of the NBA trade season.

As of Sunday, many free agents signed in the 2024 offseason are trade-eligible. The league has already seen two trades – Thomas Bryant from Miami to Indiana and Dennis Schröder from Brooklyn to Golden State – to bolster playoff contenders decimated by injuries at certain positions.

The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be one of the more active buyers leading up to the Feb. 6 trade deadline as they look to maximize the final seasons of the partnership between LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Los Angeles is currently 14-12, ninth in the Western Conference and 22nd in the net standings. The Lakers clearly need to make several improvements to realize the championship ambitions that vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick laid out earlier in the season.

But as the quiet 2024 trade deadline and offseason have shown, the Lakers’ activity doesn’t always translate into action. In the coming weeks, they need to be more open to using their draft capital to make significant improvements to their roster.

Let’s dive into some questions and topics that will dominate discussions before the deadline.

Are the Lakers likely to make a move?

Yes. At least that’s the general assumption around the league. The extent of the move is unclear, however, as it is uncertain how much draft capital the Lakers are willing to commit to a trade, according to team and league sources.

It’s worth noting that many expected the Lakers to make a move before the trade deadline last season, and they stuck with it. The closest thing to talks with Atlanta was Dejounte Murray, although Atlanta’s insistence that Austin Reaves be included in the trade was a sticking point for the Lakers at the time The athlete previously reported.

Pelinka said at media day that he wanted to evaluate the team after the 30-game mark. The Lakers will play their 30th game of the season on Christmas Day at Golden State. The Lakers’ recent exit – they lost eight of 12 games – wasn’t exactly a compelling endorsement to invest in this group. The results over the next few weeks will determine how much pressure there is on the front office to update this roster.

Based on recent league-wide trends, there are likely to be more buyers than sellers in the trade market. This can drive up the prices of sellers for quality starters and high-level role players, as was the case at the last trade deadline. However, if the Warriors give up three second-round picks for Schröder, who is statistically having a career year, it could mark a shift toward that caliber of player opting for multiple second-round picks instead of one first-round pick, league sources said .

Who are realistic trading targets?

Similar to last season, the Lakers believe they have three positional needs at the trade deadline:

• A tough, physical, defensive-minded center.
• A big 3-and-D wing who complements Davis and James as a starter/closer.
• A tall, quick and athletic defender with spot defense skills.

And similar to last season, it will be difficult to address all three needs in a single move — and without giving up both the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks.

The best-known name in league circles linked to the Lakers since the summer is Washington Wizards center Jonas Valančiūnas ($9.9 million in salary this season). He tests the field of a big, power-consuming, physical center, although his defensive mobility is limited and he can be targeted in that regard (as the Lakers were twice in high-stakes games to close the 2023-24 regular season and in the playoff did). -In the game).

Valančiūnas is averaging 12.0 points (55.8 percent shooting), 7.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 19.7 minutes per game for the Wizards. He has started 833 of his 880 career games, but has started just six of 24 games for the Wizards this season.

Valančiūnas was on James’ list of players he would be willing to take a pay cut for in the offseason The athlete reported over the summer, which shows how much James saw him as a possible candidate. Shortly afterward, Redick mentioned the Lakers’ need for a brutal, physical strongman. Davis has long wanted more reliable center help at his side in the frontcourt.

The Brooklyn Nets, currently in the play-in mix in the East, are looking to trade pieces of their core to prioritize their future. After trading Schröder, Brooklyn is expected to add wingers Cam Johnson ($22.5 million, but with a likely cap hit of $27 million) and Dorian Finney-Smith ($14.9 million). Make it available – much earlier than the February 6th deadline. Both have been tied to the Lakers for months. The Lakers have been interested in Finney-Smith for at least a few years.

As The athlete As previously reported, a move by the Lakers later in January or early February before the deadline is more likely, giving Los Angeles more time to evaluate the roster and see if injured players like Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood fill some of the gaps in the roster Squad can close rotation. But it appears that if the Lakers do make a move to the former end, a trade involving Valančiūnas, Johnson and/or Finney-Smith would be the most realistic exception.

Other names that have come up in conversations with team and league personnel in recent weeks include Utah’s Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton, Toronto’s Bruce Brown Jr., Portland’s Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III and Washington’s Kyle Kuzma. The Lakers aren’t expected to feature heavily in Miami’s Jimmy Butler, New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram or Chicago’s Zach LaVine.

The Lakers have a history of stealthily navigating the trade market in recent times. It cannot be ruled out that they trade a player and/or a team that no one expects.

Which Lakers players are eligible for trade?

The entire 15-man roster is trade-eligible this season.

James became trade eligible on December 15th. He is one of two players in the NBA with a no-trade clause, meaning he is responsible for his future.

Max Christie will be eligible to trade on January 15th. Otherwise, the other 13 players can be traded immediately.

Are players untouchable?

Two players who almost certainly won’t be traded unless they move on from Los Angeles are Davis ($43.2 million) and James ($48.7 million).

Despite recent calls from some media and fans to dismantle the roster, the Lakers are not currently considering a trade for either superstar, according to team and league sources. They want to strengthen their supporting cast and further expand the cast around Davis and James.

Of course, Bronny James ($1.2 million) wouldn’t be included in a trade that doesn’t include LeBron, team and league sources said The athlete.

The Lakers continue to have a high hurdle to trade Reaves ($13 million), considering his importance as a third option and his team-friendly contract (he’ll make less than $27 million over the next two seasons combined, before he is likely to retire in 2026). Likewise, rookie Dalton Knecht ($3.8 million) and Max Christie ($7.1 million) are two players the Lakers view as longer-term core pieces.

Which players are likely to be traded?

The Lakers have four mid-sized contracts – D’Angelo Russell ($18.7 million), Rui Hachimura ($17.0 million), Gabe Vincent ($11 million) and Vanderbilt ($10.7 million -dollars) – which form the basis for any trade that requires double-digit amounts of outgoing salary.

Redick and Pelinka have both spoken highly of Hachimura, often suggesting that they view him as a long-term piece and that he would be the least likely of this group to be moved. The Lakers attempted to trade Russell before the 2024 trade deadline and last offseason after he picked up his player option, but were unable to find a suitor. Vincent has been playing better lately, but has been underwhelming offensively as the Lakers’ Schröder replacement. Vanderbilt is currently sidelined with an effusion in his left knee after missing the start of the season due to offseason surgeries on both feet.

The Lakers did not pick up the third-year option on Jalen Hood-Schifino ($3.9 million), which for a player who was drafted as high as the Lakers selected him in 2023 (No. 17), is rare. That makes him an expiring contract and a potentially low-risk gamble for an opposing front office.

There’s also the possibility that the Lakers could sign a smaller contract like Wood ($3 million), Cam Reddish ($2.5 million) or Maxwell Lewis ($1.9 million) as equivalent salary at one Deal or to free up a place in the squad.

What do teams want from the Lakers?

The same things they wanted last season: Reaves and first-round picks.

The Lakers have three first-round picks that they can trade individually: 2029, 2030 or 2031. If they want to use more than one first-round pick, they can trade the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks (and not the first-round pick from 2030). .

They also have years of trade rights (2026, 2028 and 2030, depending on how they use the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks) and five second-round picks to trade (2025, 2027, 2030, 2031 and 2025 from the LA Clippers). second-round pick). The Lakers will likely offer one or more picks in place of one of their picks in negotiations.

Rival teams will certainly ask for Knecht and Christie, but those are also two players the Lakers will prioritize retaining. Teams will also likely sniff around James and Davis to see if they can try to lure them away from Los Angeles with a tempting offer of picks and young talent.

What are the Lakers’ financial and roster limitations?

The Lakers have a full roster of 15 players with guaranteed contracts, meaning they cannot take back more players than they give away in a trade. If they sign a multiplayer deal and temporarily fall below 14 players, they would have two weeks to return to the league’s 14-player minimum.

Additionally, Los Angeles cannot take back more salary than it spends, which is a limiting factor for a potential deal. Depending on the valuation, the Lakers are in the second half of the collective bargaining agreement between $30,000 and $45,000, which leaves them little wiggle room financially. They will not go beyond the second apron.

(Top photo of Rob Pelinka and Anthony Davis: Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images)