The conversation hasn’t changed much for the Los Angeles Lakers since a busy early July. The question still remains whether the Lakers will address their final two roster needs this offseason.
One of those needs is at backup center and, as team insider Khobi Price of the California Post noted, if the Lakers decide to make a move, it likely will be for another big man.
“If they do make any additions to their roster before training camp starts in a month, it’d likely be big man depth behind Kessler and Kevon Looney, who they signed to a veteran’s minimum contract,” Price reported. “They will still need to trim their roster by at least one player by the start of the regular season to become compliant with the league’s rules. Besides that, most of the Lakers’ major moves are behind them.”
There have been plenty of big men linked to the Lakers this offseason, including Chicago Bulls center Jalen Smith, who is entering the final season of his three-year, $27 million deal.
Lakers May Have Opportunity to Snag Smith
Smith, 26, is no star, but he has two-way ability the Lakers could appreciate. He can also step behind that 3-point line and be relatively dangerous. According to Heavy NBA insider Sean Deveney, Smith is one player the Bulls could use to soak up assets. That means the path for potentially interesting teams like the Lakers is open.
“We had Patrick Williams here in a previous version of this list, and it would be a symbolic flush of the old era for new GM Bryson Graham to dump Williams, but no one is taking on that three-year, $54 million deal,” Deveney reported. “There has been interest in Smith, and the Bulls could cash in on him as the season gets rolling and teams clearly have big man needs.”
Smith is someone who has registered on the Lakers’ radar, according to The Athletic’s Dan Woike, who reported earlier this offseason that Smith, the No. 10 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, has generated some support within the organization.
“Smith has some fans within the organization because he plays with motor and has worked himself into a pretty good outside shooter,” Woike wrote. “But Smith is expensive (one-year, $9.5 million remaining on his deal) and undersized at 6 foot 8. The previous Bulls’ regime was a fan of his, which puts his actual availability into question.”
L.A. Needs Frontcourt Help
The Lakers’ big man situation is shaky; few would argue against that. Even though the need is as clear as day, L.A. doesn’t have the easiest path to a trade, even for Smith, given their relatively light asset clip.
“The Lakers’ tradable draft picks are limited: They own their own 2033 second-round draft pick; they possess a pair of second-round picks from the Wizards in 2031 and 2032 after swapping Deandre Ayton for Jaden Hardy; and the lone first-round pick they’re able to outright swap in a trade is in 2032. Outside of that, their other trade assets are mostly players who could be on expiring contracts if their team options for 2027-28 are declined (such as Hardy and Dalton Knecht),” Price wrote.
What would it take to acquire Smith? Considering Deveney’s report, the Bulls probably aren’t prepared to surrender Smith for someone who barely plays and a distant second round pick. For the Lakers to get hands on the 26-year-old big man, they perhaps would need to give up both second round picks acquired in the trade that sent Ayton to the Washington Wizards.
That isn’t the end of the world — the Lakers traded Ayton to recoup draft capital to use in a potential trade for an impact player — but would throwing two picks and a player (or two) at Chicago for Smith be a wise move?
Smith averaged 10.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 38 percent from the 3-point line last season. The big man would certainly improve the Lakers’ frontcourt depth and give them a player who could be counted on in case Walker Kessler misses time.
Lakers Get Good Trade News on $27M Top Center Target as Deal Emerges