Like clockwork, the Los Angeles Lakers once again find themselves as major players in the trade market with the February deadline looming right around the corner. One team heavily linked to the Lakers is the Chicago Bulls, who Los Angeles coincidentally lost to on Wednesday night.

After the Bulls and Zach LaVine reportedly agreed to work on a potential trade, the Lakers instantly pegged as a potential suitor for the star guard. However, the Lakers are reportedly more interested in acquiring Compton native DeMar DeRozan or former guard Alex Caruso should either become available.

Certainly, a Lakers-Bulls trade makes sense for both sides. Chicago has the pieces that could give Los Angeles' roster a major upgrade. Meanwhile, the Bulls are better off becoming sellers at the deadline and kickstarting a rebuild. But the question is, just how much are the Lakers willing to give up to orchestrate a deal with the Bulls?

Lakers' dilemma

Before diving into the predictions, let's walk through the Lakers' dilemma for this year's trade deadline.

Adding a talent like LaVine should give the Lakers more firepower offensively. But the problem with trading for the two-time All-Star is his bloated contract. LaVine is in the second season of a five-year, $215 million deal, which makes him a difficult trade target for the Lakers. Los Angeles wants to maintain flexibility year-over-year, which is why it prefers DeRozan and/or Caruso. DeRozan's $28 million deal expires this summer, while Caruso is on a value contract worth $19.2 million over the next two seasons.

The Bulls, however, could also have a steep asking price for those two players, which could present problems for the Lakers in terms of just how much they want to give up. Recent reports indicated that Los Angeles has no intention of trading Austin Reaves. For the right piece, though, will they be willing to part ways with the rising star?

They have several other players with team-friendly and tradable deals like D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Gabe Vincent whom they could structure their offers around. The Lakers also have intriguing young pieces like Max Christie and Jalen Hood-Schifino and their draft picks from 2025 to 2030 (except 2027) that they could attach as key assets in any potential deal.

All eyes will certainly be on the Lakers at the deadline. Rob Pelinka isn't afraid to shake things up mid-season if it means improving Los Angeles' chances to win a championship with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way.

With that said, here are some early NBA trade deadline predictions for the Lakers.

Lakers trade deadline predictions

D'Angelo Russell will be traded

Recent reports mentioned that the Lakers are reportedly considering a “D'Angelo Russell centric deal” for Zach LaVine. And after suffering their fourth loss in five games, it's becoming clearer that Los Angeles needs to make a move — and Russell will be the one to go come the deadline.

Russell played perhaps his worst game of the season on Wednesday, finishing with just two points in 28 minutes. Ironically, it came against the team he could potentially play for if the Lakers do get a deal done with the Bulls.

Sure, Russell has been played a huge role as a scorer and playmaker for the Lakers this season. But his inconsistency and tendency to disappear in games isn't cutting it for Los Angeles.

D'Angelo Russell's December has been particularly bad. During the month, the point guard is averaging 8.7 points and 5.1 assists on just 37.7 percent field goal shooting.  Despite his poor play as of late, his two-year $36 million price over the next two seasons wouldn't be difficult to swallow, especially for a Bulls team looking to rebuild.

Lakers get Alex Caruso back

Alex Caruso is one of the other trade targets for the Lakers — and probably 10 other teams around the league. Caruso is a hot commodity around the league because of his team-friendly deal and the fact that he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. Therefore, this has allowed Chicago to attach a steep price for the former Laker. According to reports, the Bulls want at least two first round picks for Caruso.

The Lakers, however, can only trade one first rounders (either 2029 or 2030) this season, so it will be a challenging to meet Chicago's asking price.  They could also center their offers around Max Christie and Jalen Hood-Schifino, who should be solid development projects for a rebuilding Bulls program. But are the Bulls going to bite on that?

Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt for the Lakers to try. Trading for Alex Caruso just makes too much sense for them. He will help address two of their needs: point-of-attack defense and three-point shooting. Caruso is in the midst of the best shooting season of his career, connecting on 45.4 percent of his three-pointers.

The Lakers showed during the In-Season Tournament that when they're locked in, they could beat just about anyone in the NBA. As such, Los Angeles doesn't really need to pull off a big splash like trading for LaVine and would be better off just retooling around the edges.