Los Angeles Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt has been on the trade block for a while, and despite many around the league knowing his current team has been looking to move on, the nine-year NBA veteran remains on the roster heading into the 2026-27 season.
The Lakers are currently over the league’s roster limitations, so there is a chance Vanderbilt could be moved before the season begins. However, for the time being, Los Angeles failed to move the forward they have no intention of making a consistent part of the rotation next year.
That failure to trade Vanderbilt, despite his name being mentioned in rumors all summer, has been deemed the Lakers’ biggest offseason failure and could come back to haunt them later this year.
Lakers Jarred Vanderbilt Trade Fumble Named Biggest Offseason Failure
The Lakers were hopeful to move Vanderbilt at some point this season, whether it was a sign-and-trade for Jonathan Kuminga, a deal for another wing upgrade, or in the major deal they made with the Utah Jazz for restricted free agent center Walker Kessler.
According to Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, the Lakers’ inability to put Vanderbilt in a sign-and-trade for Kessler was the team’s biggest failure this summer, after they were already planning to go through an offseason full of change.
Even more so, writing for LakeShowLife.com, Svyatoslav Rovenchuk deemed the Lakers’ inability to trade Vanderbilt at all, with him still on the roster as of early September, is the franchise’s ‘biggest offseason failure’ as a whole.
“(Quinn’s) analysis misses the mark,” he wrote, adding that the Lakers didn’t have the leverage to add Vanderbilt in the trade, but him still being on the roster nonetheless isn’t what the team would have hoped. “The failure to move on from Vanderbilt will be a touch disappointing for Lakers fans. Given the nuanced lack of leverage in both scenarios where Los Angeles might have done it, it is a justifiable failure.”
Los Angeles had other chances to trade Vanderbilt, but the Atlanta Hawks didn’t want him back in a sign-and-trade for Kuminga.
They could, and likely did, offer him up in trade packages for some of their other top targets, but considering his contract and lack of performance with the Lakers over the past few years, he didn’t have the value across the league that Los Angeles needed to garner a decent-enough return.
There is a chance the Lakers could still find a trade partner for Vanderbilt, but at this point, if no team wanted him before, he’s likely going to stay on the roster, in what was an apparent miss from the front office this offseason.
Los Angeles Poised To Keep The Wing Player
With all of that being said, Vanderbilt staying with the Lakers and playing next season in the Purple and Gold is the most likely outcome at this point in the NBA calendar.
According to Khobi Price of the California Post, all signs point to the Lakers not making any other moves and keeping Vanderbilt in the process.
“With the Lakers unlikely to make a significant move before training camp starts at the end of September, the answer to the question of who will be the fifth starter alongside Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler and (presumably) Quentin Grimes is probably already on the roster,” he wrote, adding that the still-rostered forward could be poised for a bigger role next season after the team’s failed trades.
Vanderbilt is entering the last guaranteed year of his four-year, $48 million contract, set to earn $12.4 million this season for the Lakers. He has a player option for the 2027-28 season, and amid all the trade rumors, there’s an expectation he’ll pick that up.
The 27-year-old averaged 4.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists on 47.1% shooting in 65 games for Los Angeles last season.
Lakers Jarred Vanderbilt Trade Disaster Deemed ‘Biggest Offseason Failure’