After winning the NBA Championship in 2020, it’s been all downhill for the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite Lebron James playing like the excellent star that he is, the Lakers are still below 50% with their win rate for the season and are looking as a long shot to make the postseason unless something changes soon. Here are a few potential trades that the Lakers could look at executing to give their season a leg up ahead of the playoffs, which are fast approaching in 2023.
Kyle Kuzma
Kyle Kuzma is no foreigner to the yellow jersey, having made up part of the 2019-20 championship side for the Lakers. Kuzma is an excellent combo forward and would be just what the Lakers are missing right now. His current skill set, plus the fact that he’s got plenty of juice left in the tank at only 27 years old, means the Lakers should look seriously at how they can trade and get the forward back in Los Angeles. The trouble is, it’s hard to see a world where the Wizards are interested in what the Lakers offer, which would likely be Patrick Beverly and Kendrick Nunn as a trade.
Should the Lakers be able to secure Kuzma, he could make a vital second wave of scoring outside of Lebron James and Anthony Davis—and there’s an argument to be made they should never have released him in the first place.
Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, and DeMar DeRozan
With the Lakers struggling this season, they’ll be relieved to look up and see how much of a mess the Chicago Bulls are in. According to Betting.com, the Bulls are currently +20,000 to win the 2023 NBA Championship, so while the Lakers are a long shot at +6,500, we expect both teams to be on opposite sides of trade deadline goals.
The Lakers could jump on this and try to snaffle some of their All-Stars, particularly DeMar DeRozan, who would complement James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles.
Jakob Poeltl, Josh Richardson, and Doug McDermott
The San Antonio Spurs also offer many potential trade options for the Los Angeles Lakers. While some think the Lakers are heading in the right direction at the halfway point of the season, there’s no denying they’d be better with the likes of Jakob Poeltl, Josh Richardson, and Doug McDermott in their squad as well. The Spurs would likely want a first-round pick for any of these players to secure Victor Wembanyama, which the Lakers would need to weigh up should they be interested in adding any of these players to their team.