A commonly asked question involving the Los Angeles Lakers is if the team will make a trade late in the offseason. With the Lakers needing to address multiple areas on the roster, it at least appears the possibility of a trade cannot be dismissed.
“If they do make any additions to their roster before training camp starts in a month, it’d likely be big man depth behind (Walker) Kessler and Kevon Looney, who they signed to a veteran’s minimum contract,” team insider Khobi Price recently 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.”
Besides the big man position, L.A. could still use reinforcements at wing despite making multiple free agent signings. But there is a chance that the Lakers settle on a player already on the roster to take the nod as the starting power forward next season.
The Move the Lakers are Trying to Make
It’s important to remember that the Lakers are already above the NBA-mandated roster limit, which could both make a trade more likely and leave the team with fewer options to avoid making one.
If there is one player the Lakers would like to move on from, it seems to be forward Jarred Vanderbilt, according to Heavy’s Sean Deveney.
“The Lakers have been trying to find a taker for Vanderbilt, but no one has been eager to take on his contract,” Deveney reported. “It’s possible the Lakers will use him in their rotation, much to JJ Redick’s chagrin, and attempt to trade him during the season.”
Moving Vanderbilt would give the Lakers a ton more flexibility. But that’s the reason why moving him has been difficult. The 27-year-old swingman is set to earn roughly $26 million over the next two seasons. In this apron era, it makes sense why teams are unwilling to absorb that salary, especially when that player has shown to be quite injury prone in recent seasons.
The Lakers could attach some draft picks to incentivize a team to take Vanderbilt, whose roughly $12 million contract next season can be traded into some teams’ midlevel exception.
But there’s another problem. The Lakers don’t have picks to burn.
“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,” wrote Khobi Price of the California Post. “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).”
L.A. Could Be Forced to Make Use of Vanderbilt
That’s not to dump on Vanderbilt like he’s some throw away player. L.A. needs help at power forward, and Vanderbilt has shown he can be a plus-contributor when healthy. And with there not being particularly flattering options remaining on the free agent market for the Lakers to choose from, Vanderbilt could have a role for L.A. next season — yes, even if it’s to Redick’s chagrin.
“Without (Jonthan) Kuminga, the answer to who’ll be their fifth starter is likely already on the team. Every other starting-caliber or pseudo starting-caliber wing/forward free agent for a team looking to contend in the playoffs has already been signed. Those types of players aren’t easy to trade for, and the Lakers lack the draft capital to credibly make a deal,” Price wrote.
Vanderbilt did, at least, bounce back in the durability department last season, appearing in 65 regular season games and seven of the 10 postseason contests for the Lakers, though he did suffer a grotesque finger injury during the team’s second round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Vanderbilt was brought in from the Utah Jazz ahead of the 2023 trade deadline. He was highly impactful in the early going for the Lakers but hasn’t matched that level ever since.
If the Lakers hang on to Vanderbilt this summer, he’ll at least get a few months to re-establish himself in the rotation before trade talks could pick up again.
Report: Lakers Pushing to Trade Jarred Vanderbilt Amid ‘JJ Redick’s Chagrin’