The Los Angeles Lakers stood pat the 2024 NBA trade deadline, possibly to the chagrin of LeBron James.

The Lakers hung onto D'Angelo Russell and opted to forego pursuing nominal upgrades to keep open the opportunity to chase a star this offseason. Despite LeBron's subtweeting, the inaction from Rob Pelinka is understandable considering the options on the trade market, their limited assets, and their run to the 2023 conference finals with the same core.

The Lakers are hoping that clarity of stability, the expected — though not imminent — returns of Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt, and a buyout addition (or two) can ignite a playoff run.

The Lakers most pressing needs are perimeter defense, two-way contributors, outside shooting, and extra size behind Anthony Davis.

The Lakers are annually active on the buyout market. Dudes want to play in Los Angeles, compete alongside LeBron, and rebuild their value in the spotlight. The Lakers always keep an active roster spot open til this time of year. Last summer, they saved about $2 million when signing Vincent, which they can reallocate to juice offers to buyout candidates. Here are a few options.

Five buyout candidates for the Lakers

Kyle Lowry

Lakers fans will not-so-fondly recall the 2021 trade deadline, when Pelinka declined to deal Talen Horton-Tucker and a first-round pick for Lowry. Will they finally get the chance to ink the six-time All-Star for a few bucks?

Certainly, Lowry would be a cultural fit. Playoff-tested, hard-nosed, defense, shooting, all that. However, it seems farfetched, as Lowry seems destined to land with the Philadelphia 76ers, giving the 37-year-old his long-awaited chance to play in his hometown.

Spencer Dinwiddie

The Lakers are reportedly among the favorites to sign Dinwiddie, who was traded from the Brooklyn Nets and is expected to be waived by the Toronto Raptors. He'll have multiple suitors.

Dinwiddie, a Los Angeles native, makes sense for the Lakers. They could use another ball-handler/shot-creator to pep up their middling halfcourt offense — though he wouldn't help the team's 3-point shooting. In 48 games this season, Dinwiddie is averaging 12.6 points and 6.0 assists on 391/.320/.781 shooting splits. Big Crypto Bro, too.

Cory Joseph

The Indiana Pacers waived Joseph after acquiring him from the Golden State Warriors. The veteran combo guard is a decent point-of-attack defender and a 34.9% career 3-point shooter. He's also a Klutch client whom the Lakers have eyed in the past. Joseph won't deliver an 18th banner, but he's a feasible fallback option.

Danilo Gallinari

Gallinari is a bit of a forgotten Rooster in the discourse, as he missed last season with injury and has been mired on the Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons in 2023-24.

But Gallinari's ability to stretch the floor and play small-ball center would give Darvin Ham some different looks to tinker with (admittedly, maybe not a good thing for this coaching staff). Gallinari, 38.2% career from deep, would instantly become the most lethal long-range threat on the Lakers.

Mike Muscala

Anecdotally, I know of multiple Lakers fans who have been lowkey pining for Muscala to end up in purple and gold. Muscala checks a few boxes: He's an upgrade over Christian Wood (basically out of the rotation) and Jaxson Hayes, whose offensive ineptitude was just clowned by D'Angelo Russell on a podcast. He's 6'10, 240, and boasts a career 37.7% 3-point rate.

Plus, his basketball reference nicknames are Moose, Jawz, and Musky, which is simply elite stuff.

Other names to watch: Marcus Morris Sr., Joe Harris, Danuel House Jr., Otto Porter Jr.