Lakers’ Plans Predicted Before NBA Trade Deadline

The NBA trade deadline is on Feb. 5. The Los Angeles Lakers are always a hot topic near the trade deadline. During the 2024-25 season trade deadline, the Lakers made waves by acquiring former Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic.

They have played some terrific basketball this season, but the West is strong, and you can never have enough strength at each position. Thus, the Lakers can look to build depth to prepare for a tough playoff run.

On that note, ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst discussed the direction the Lakers can take before the trade deadline

Will the Lakers be Active During the Trade Deadline?

Windhorst doesn’t see the Lakers pulling off a deal for a big name like they did last season with Doncic. At the same time, he doesn’t rule out the possibility of landing a strong role player.

According to Windhorst, if the Lakers get someone at a friendly price, they are likely to make a move.

On his "The Hoop Collective" podcast, the ESPN analyst opined that the Lakers will likely wait for the offseason to make a big transaction, so they can be relatively quiet around the trade deadline compared to last season.

"Yeah, I think the Lakers' heavy lifting will be done in the summer. And I think if they do anything at the deadline, I think there's one of two things that would happen,” said Windhorst.  “One, it would be some sort of, you know, something akin to what they did with Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart, where they get a guy on such a discount they can't say no, where they trade expiring contracts for a guy, they rent a player or whatever.”

Windhorst thinks the Lakers could look at someone with high potential to develop him into a big contributor. But he didn’t believe they could go for a long-term project around the trade deadline. 

The Lakers are 27-17, good enough for the fifth position in the West. It is a better position than they have been in the last couple of years, but they might not have built a championship-level squad.

They wouldn’t mind getting a reliable player on an affordable deal to make a strong push in the second half of the season.

Los Angeles visits the Chicago Bulls at 8 p.m. ET Monday.