It’s been another quiet offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers, though few would be faulted for believing that this year might be different.

Even with new restrictions from the collective bargaining agreement making it more difficult than ever for taxpaying teams to improve their rosters, L.A. entered the offseason with a sliver of hope.

The Lakers could have gotten some substantial cap relief had Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood Cam Reddish and/or D’Angelo Russell declined their player options (they didn’t). L.A. might have gotten a break had it secured a star for whom LeBron James was willing to take a significant pay cut.

According to Jovan Buha and Shams Charania
of The Athletic, James had discussed taking a “substantial
pay cut” to allow the Lakers to sign a star like Klay Thompson or DeMar
DeRozan.

Los Angeles whiffed on every top player it pursued, and James instead re-signed on a two-year, $101.35 million contract that was only slightly below the max available.

According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, most around the league still expect the Lakers to make a trade “at some point” before the February 7 deadline, but it may not happen in the near future.

“Now, according to league and team sources, the Lakers are expected to remain patient in their quest to improve their roster,” Buha wrote.

There are still some trade candidates out there for the Lakers to consider.
Clint Capela is “on the trade market,” according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe. Brandon Ingram faces a “limited” trade market, according to Charania, but he could be available. Plenty of eyes are still on Lauri Markkanen, though August 6—the day on which he can renegotiate his extension—remains a key date to watch.

If the Lakers are going to actually make a move that truly helps them in the coming season, though, they must now shift their offseason focus from being buyers to sellers.

No, we’re not talking about selling off key players like James, Anthony Davis or Austin Reaves. We’re talking about selling off some of those players L.A. probably hoped would opt out of their contracts.

Russell should probably remain, as he’s arguably the biggest trade chip the Lakers can reasonably part with aside from draft capital. However, players on the back end of the roster, like Wood, Hayes and Reddish should be viewed as expendable.

Reddish was the only player from that group to average more than 20 minutes last season, and he only averaged 5.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and one assist for his efforts. These are players who aren’t likely to contribute in a meaningful way this season—especially with rookie first-round pick Dalton Knecht expected to see a substantial early role.

Parting with Wood, Reddish and/or Hayes—either by trading away more players than they receiver or by packaging picks in salary-dumping deals—could help the Lakers in a couple of ways.

For starters, the Lakers are just $45,001 under the second luxury-tax apron. As Buha pointed out, shedding salary could get L.A. far enough below the second apron to actually use the taxpayer midlevel exception.

The lingering free-agent market isn’t great, but right now, the Lakers pretty much have their hands financially tied.

Secondly, the Lakers currently have a full roster of 15 players. In each of the past two years, they’ve entered the regular season with an open roster spot to maintain trade flexibility. Without dumping a player or two, that won’t be an option.

While waiting for an in-season deal probably isn’t the approach fans wanted to see after last year’s struggles, it has paid off before. L.A. shook up its roster at the deadline two years ago and made a run to the Western Conference Finals.

Tearing down the back end of the roster should have a minimal on-court impact. The top of the Lakers roster is largely the same as the one that made a deep run in 2023, so it should be able to stay afloat while waiting for the right trade opportunity to arrive.

And if the opportunity does arise to significantly improve the Lakers’ supporting cast, they’ll likely need the roster and cap flexibility they currently lack to capitalize.