The Los Angeles Lakers plan to be major players in free agency this offseason as they intend to go for not one but two max players. However, they’d need to shed a significant amount of salary, preferably Luol Deng’s onerous contract, in order to fit two max contracts into their cap.

Enter the Dallas Mavericks, who, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders explains, could be an ideal trade partner for the Lakers if they are intent on ridding themselves of salary in order to chase some superstars.

The Mavericks do have a bunch of ending contracts and have routinely been linked in NBA circles to the LA Lakers as a possible destination for Luol Deng. The prevailing thought is if the Lakers packed in Julius Randle and a future first-round pick, the Mavericks might have the right combination of ending contracts to get the Lakers where they want to be next summer. League sources said there had been zero talks about a Deng deal with the Mavericks, but history has shown the Mavericks don’t have much issue trading within Conference. If the return is right for the Mavericks, they have in the past been open to helping another team shed cap money if it’s in their favor, which makes them a team to watch at the deadline.

The Mavericks are currently in rebuilding mode and will be looking for young assets to surround promising rookie point guard Dennis Smith Jr. Randle, who is just 23 and is also a Dallas native, would fit the bit quite nicely from their perspective. He has shown enough upside in his first few years in the league and would make it worth their while to swallow Deng's massive deal.

However, the combination of Randle and a future first-rounder seems like a steep price for the Lakers to pay just to shed Deng’s salary. But if they are willing to pay it for the sake of double max cap space, then the Mavs will likely be one of the teams they will be in close contact with.