Can the Los Angeles Lakers save their 2024-25 season before said season starts?
L.A. is not necessarily in dire straights, at least compared with, say, the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference or the Washington Wizards or Brooklyn Nets in the East. This is a team that arrives armed with two perennial All-NBA stars, 20-time All-NBA combo forward LeBron James and five-time All-NBA center/power forward Anthony Davis. This is also a team whose expected starting five (point guard D’Angelo Russell, shooting guard Austin Reaves, small forward James, power forward Rui Hachimura and Davis) went 23-10 games when it tipped off together for the 47-35 Lakers last year.
But that doesn’t mean these Lakers are anywhere near the elite teams of the West. The younger, more athletic, deeper Oklahoma City Thunder notched a 57-25 record and secured the conference’s overall No. 1 seed last year, and are now bringing in two solid two-way contributors, two-time All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso and former New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, to accentuate its core of MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, forward Jalen Williams, and big man Chet Holmgren. Oklahoma City may run away with the best record in the West, but that doesn’t mean young, deep teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, or the recuperated Memphis Grizzlies won’t secure stellar records. The Phoenix Suns made some sneaky-good improvements, too. Even the Lakers’ own Pacific Division nemeses, the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors, made some intriguing roster moves.
Specifically, it’s time for the Lakers to flip D’Angelo Russell. The oft-critiqued point guard may have enjoyed a solid regular season run in 2023-24, but he once again crumbled on offense in the playoffs, while struggling to contain Denver Nuggets star point guard Jamal Murray on the other end.
There are two pretty obvious trade partners lurking in the East: a pair of squads teams looking to tank, and happy to take on the 6-foot-4 OSU product’s expiring contract to do so.
Russell made his one and only All-Star team while with the Brooklyn Nets. Since being forced to give up on its core of future Hall of Famers James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant (yes, all three demanded trades out of town), Brooklyn has been in asset-accrual mode. The team has three very clear trade fits for Los Angeles in rim-rolling center Nicolas Claxton (who’s making a generous $28.4 million this year), small forward Dorian Finney-Smith (who’s making $14.9 million), and old pal Dennis Schröder (on a $13 million deal). Russell, who’s a solid regular season player but useless postseason player, could be packaged with the contract of another underperforming Laker, either Gabe Vincent or Jarred Vanderbilt, in a deal for Claxton. Alternately, the Nets would need to add money to match Russell’s contract were the prime focus Finney-Smith or Schröder. All Brooklyn would request in exchange for any of these role player-caliber vets would be a lightly protected first round pick, presumably (and perhaps a second). Any of these three Nets players (or, ideally, at least two of them) would massively improve the Lakers’ defense, which drops off a cliff away from All-Defensive standout Anthony Davis in the paint.
The Chicago Bulls, of course, have former two-time All-Star Zach LaVine, a long-rumored possible Lakers trade target who’s making $43 million this year. L.A. would need to package Russell with the contracts of Vanderbilt, Vincent, and a minimum player to acquire LaVine, but because his sticker tag is seen as being worse than his actual value, Los Angeles may not have to give up in the way of first round draft equity.