The Los Angeles Lakers may have improved to 2-1 after their victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night, but that hasn’t smoothed over some of weaker areas on the roster.
For all the excitement the offseason roster moves brought, most still worried about the Lakers’ big man depth. This preseason has only highlighted the frontcourt issues the Lakers will experience if new star big man Walker Kessler misses time during the regular season.
The rumblings of a potential Lakers trade have continued well into the preseason, and for good reason. With Kessler sidelined with a finger injury, the Lakers aren’t exactly getting strong big man play from current backup center Kevon Looney.
Will Lakers Make a Trade for Long-Rumored Big Man?
The player most mentioned in Lakers trade rumors in recent months is Chicago Bulls center Jalen Smith. While Smith, 26, wouldn’t be a gamechanger for the Lakers, he would be an instant upgrade at backup, and that is something L.A. could use right away. However, Lakers reporter Jovan Buha noted that a trade for Smith — or any big man — is far from imminent.
“I think this is something that is probably going to be resolved closer to the trade deadline, to be completely honest. There’s maybe a world in which some team decides to trade with the Lakers now, but I think their assets, particularly some of the expiring contracts that they have, will have more value closer to the trade deadline. I would say that this might be a situation that reveals itself in time.”
As Heavy NBA insider Sean Deveney recently reported, the Bulls could be open to trading Smith, the 10th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but not necessarily right now.
“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.”
Can L.A. Afford to Start Regular Season Without a True Backup?
Granted, it isn’t the coolest answer … but no. They can’t. Because if Kessler — yes, you’ve already heard this like 256 times already — is sidelined for any length of time, the Lakers would be in grave danger of tumbling in the standings.
Taking a look at the contenders in the Western Conference, teams are equipped with multiple quality big men, starting with the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, which possesses arguably the deepest center rotation in the league.
With how Looney (sorry, Loon) has looked so far this preseason, the Lakers would probably be better off trying 6’9” big man Sandro Mamukelashvili at center in the non-Kessler minutes. Mamukelashvili, 27, isn’t much of a defender, so head coach JJ Redick would really have to dig deep into his bag of tricks to keep his team afloat when his starting center is not in the game.
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