Los Angeles Lakers staying silent at NBA trade deadline

NEW YORK — The NBA’s annual trade deadline has sparked significant movement around the league. 

Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Jazz. James Harden to the Cavaliers and Darius Garland to the Clippers. Anthony Davis, for the second consecutive winter, shocklingly being traded, this time to the Washington Wizards after being traded from the Lakers to the Mavericks as part of the deal that brought Luka Doncic to Los Angeles. 

And all of this happened with there still being over 24 hours left before Thursday’s noon deadline – plenty of time for teams to make even more league-altering moves. 

But don’t expect the Lakers to be one of the teams.

Rob Pelinka, the organization’s president of basketball operations and general manager, has stressed the importance of the Lakers’ “optionality” since the summer. 

And by either not making a trade at all before Thursday’s deadline, or making a move around the margins that won’t add salary onto their books for future seasons, the Lakers will maintain the optionality they’ve coveted. 

The Lakers have signaled that they’re looking to maintain as much cap space as reasonably possible heading into the offseason, with LeBron James’ $52.6 million salary as part of his expiring contract coming off their books. 

They have three other players on expiring deals: Rui Hachimura ($18.3 million for 2025-26), Gabe Vincent ($11.5 million) and Maxi Kleber ($11 million). 

Austin Reaves ($13.9 million), Deandre Ayton ($8.1 million) and Marcus Smart ($5.1 million) also have player options for 2026-27. 

Even with Reaves expected to get a significant pay raise with the Lakers this summer on a new deal that could triple his salary, the Lakers will have more options to build a roster that’s better suited to fit around 26-year-old franchise centerpiece Luka Doncic than the current one. 

That’s the vision they’re holding onto, and what’s guiding them during this deadline. 

It doesn’t mean they haven’t been active in trade discussions. 

As expected, they’ve explored the market for defensive-minded or 3-and-D wings. But the interest in De’Andre Hunter – who was traded from the Cavaliers to Kings – is an example of the Lakers not wanting to sacrifice their long-term goals for a possible short-term boost that may not be a significant help for their future. 

Hunter has a $24.9 million salary for next season. The Lakers would’ve been willing to trade for Hunter if it meant also trading one of their players who are signed to a deal beyond this season, but didn’t want to add a player who may not fit into long-term plans who’d have a significant salary beyond 2025-26. 

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Their options to add a difference-maker via draft capital has also been limited, with the Lakers currently only having one first-round pick (2031 or 2032) and one second-round pick (2032) at their disposal to trade. 

With the Lakers gaining access to trade their 2033 first-round pick during the draft in late June, they could trade up to three first-round picks (‘26, ‘31 and ‘33) on draft night if they don’t trade their 2026 pick ahead of time. 

And the Lakers could use the projected cap space to either sign a more significant free agent or use the space combined with those draft picks to trade for a star player. They’re projecting to be one of the only compeitive teams to have the cap space to sign a player to a max deal this offseason. 

Ultimately, the Lakers aren’t seeing this trade window as the time or opportunity to go all-in, putting even more pressure and scrunity on how they’ll handle the summer.