LeBron James is reportedly re-signing with the Los Angeles Lakers on a two-year max contract, which gets the most important piece of business out of the way. With James (and the other James, Bronny) under contract, JJ Redick hired as the new head coach, and first-round pick Dalton Knecht having signed as well, the Lakers will have to completely turn their attention to the trade market.
As a result of James' contract, which if a true max would be for $104 million total, the Lakers would dip just slightly into the dreaded second apron. Being above the second apron ($188.9 million) restricts the Lakers from doing many things, the most important of which is aggregating outgoing salaries in trades. This means that the Lakers could only ship out one player in a trade at a time.
Fortunately, the Lakers are just barely over the second apron — ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks has the Lakers with $190 million in current salary, which is $1.1 million above the second apron. To get into first-apron territory, the Lakers could trade one of their smallest contracts. Second-year wing Maxwell Lewis and his $1.9 million salary could be sent out, for example. There is also a possibility that James will take slightly less than the max in order to allow the Lakers to stay under the second apron without having to make an additional roster move. Either way, L.A. very easily and likely will make sure to be under the $188.9 million mark sometime soon.
Once they do, it is expected the Lakers will make one or multiple moves to shore up a roster that made the playoffs via the Play-In Tournament but was then knocked out of the postseason in the first round by the Denver Nuggets. James and big man Anthony Davis are likely to be the only truly ‘untouchable' members on the team, although Austin Reaves is probably not going to be moved this offseason either.
And while those three are relatively safe from trades, D'Angelo Russell is not. The veteran guard is likely nearing the end of his second stint with the Lakers, the team that drafted him with the second overall pick in 2015. While Russell played his way off the trade block this past season, he proved to be underwhelming for a second consecutive year in the postseason, and by exercising his $18.7 million player option, he has given the Lakers a trade chip.
If the Lakers slip under the second apron, they can combine Russell's salary with one or more of their other players to overhaul the team. Here is what I believe to be the best trade the Lakers can make with their current pieces.
Lakers trade for Cameron Johnson, Jakob Poeltl, and reunite with Dennis Schroder
The Lakers, as a first-apron team, would be able to take back salaries worth 110% of what they send out. So if, for example, Russell was the only Lakers player traded, L.A. could receive a player or multiple players with salaries combining for no more than $20,561,538.
However, if the team gets under the second apron, they might as well take advantage of the ability to combine outgoing player salaries. To bolster their roster, the Lakers would likely combine Russell's $18.7 million salary with Rui Hachimura ($17 million), Gabe Vincent ($11 million), or Jarred Vanderbilt ($10.7 million).
Personally, I don't think trading Vincent, who had horrible injury luck last year and was limited to 11 games as a result, is a good idea. Firstly, the Lakers would be trading away two guards, and there are not many teams capable of or willing to return them a pair of comparable guards. Secondly, Vincent has proven to be a talented playoff-caliber player — he averaged 12.7 points and 3.5 assists per game as a starter on the Miami Heat's 2023 NBA Finals team.
That leaves Hachimura and Vanderbilt. Both are relatively young and athletic, but they have wildly different strengths and weaknesses, with Vanderbilt being one of the Lakers' best perimeter defenders and Hachimura being a more offensively-minded wing who is also bigger and stronger. While it would benefit the Lakers to keep both for their different skillsets, if I had to pick just one, I would throw Hachimura into a deal with Russell.
However, I think it would make a lot of sense if the Lakers parted ways with all three this summer in order to bring back a few players that could really work well next to James, Davis, and Reaves.
The trade I would do is this:
Lakers get: Cameron Johnson, Jakob Poeltl, and Dennis Schroder
Nets get: D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and 2026 first-round pick (LAL)
Raptors get: Jarred Vanderbilt, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Cam Reddish, and 2028 first-round pick (LAL)
Cameron Johnson is a classic 3-and-D guy. Despite not having his strongest year last season, he shot 39.1% from three and is a career 39.2% shooter from beyond the arc. His health can be a concern at times, which is not ideal, but it has also likely driven his trade value down. Adding Johnson would give the Lakers another perimeter shooting option, which is always a welcome sight for LeBron teammates.
Dennis Schroder would be returning to the Lakers for a third stint — he donned purple and goal in 2020-21 and again in 2022-23, proving to be a valuable two-way guard both times. With the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets last season, he proved he still has something to give to a team by averaging 14.6 points, 6.0 assists, and shooting a career-high 41.2% from three.
Jakob Poeltl would be the most interesting piece considering the Lakers already have Anthony Davis. However, the Lakers are relatively barren in terms of big men outside of AD, who has struggled with injuries for a good chunk of his time in L.A. Poeltl, even moreso than AD, is not a perimeter shooting threat, but it would give the Lakers another big body to throw at Nikola Jokic in another potential playoff meeting with the Nuggets or against the Minnesota Timberwolves big men trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Naz Reid. Over the past two seasons, Poeltl averaged 11.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. He's agile, he can take on the contact that Davis may not want to or should not take as well.
The Nets and Raptors have both made it clear they're rebuilding — Toronto shipped out Pascal Siakam at the trade deadline despite acquiring Poeltl from the San Antonio Spurs, while the Nets have been acquiring multiple picks by trading away Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and most recently, Mikal Bridges.
This potential trade results in a preliminary Lakers rotation that would look something like this:
- Dennis Schroder
- Austin Reaves
- Gabe Vincent
- Max Christie
- Bronny James
- LeBron James
- Cameron Johnson
- Dalton Knecht
- Anthony Davis
- Jakob Poeltl
- Christian Wood
- Jaxson Hayes
This isn't taking into account additional trades or low-price signings the Lakers could make as the offseason progresses. L.A. could probably try to fill out their wings with minimum players trying to prove their worth, something that has worked with varying success for the Lakers.
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