Rather than chasing older max-contract third superstars, the Los Angeles Lakers would be wise to target younger, more affordable, two-way stars with the upside to become superstars with bigger roles on a better team.
Targeting a player in their mid-twenties earning less than $25 million per year will cost major draft capital but leave the Lakers with the matching salaries and space below second tax apron to build a deep, diverse roster. The new CBA with its second luxury tax apron and new unprecedented financial and competitive penalties has made it almost impossible to build championship caliber rosters if paying max salaries to three superstars.
The Lakers have refused in the past to trade first round picks for elite role players like Myles Turner and Dejounte Murray, preferring instead to save those picks to trade for superstars like Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook.
The time’s now come for the Lakers to change that strategy. They learned firsthand how trading first round draft picks for elite role players instead of superstars has transformed Celtics, Nuggets, and Mavs into contenders.
The Lakers must see that the NBA is undergoing a changing of the guard with younger stars and teams taking over from older stars and teams and an evolution of the game where size, length, and athleticism dominate.
The Lakers need a roster building strategy that targets rising stars who could function as the team’s third star for the next two or three years and take over as AD’s co-superstar when LeBron James retires from the league.
The Los Angeles Lakers portfolio of available trading chips is their best in years and includes their 2024, 2029, and 2031 first round draft picks, 2026, 2028, and 2030 first round pick swaps, and five second round draft picks.
Ideally, the Lakers would keep the #17 pick in the draft for a backup center and then use draft capital to trade for two of these four young affordable two-way prospects without giving up Austin Reaves or Max Christie.
Here are four affordable young two-way stars with superstar upside who are 26 or 27 years old, earn between $17 to $25 million per year, and are available for right trade package of matching salaries and draft capital.
1. Lauri Markkanen
Lauri Markkanen, PF, 7′ 0″, 240 lbs, 27-years old, 1-yr @ $18.0M
23.2/8.2/2.0 on 16.2/8.0/5.0 shooting 48.0/39.9/89.9% in 33.1 mpg
27-year old Lauri Markkanen should be at the top of the Lakers’ offseason trade target board as he is the perfect third superstar to complement James and Davis and pair with Davis when James retires in two or three years.
Markannen’s elite size, length, athleticism, and volume 3-point shooting would transform the Lakers’ starting lineup and half-court offense into a juggernaut. He shot a sizzling 39.9% from deep on 8.0 attempts per game.
Besides giving the Lakers a desperately needed volume 3-point shooter, Markkanen also enables L.A. to double down on dominating points-in-the-paint and free-throws-made while becoming competitive on 3-pointers.
Reports indicate the Jazz are likely looking to trade rather than re-sign the 27-year old Markkanen provided they get a significant offer for the Finnish star. Lauri’s in the final year of his contract and will be due for a big raise.
The offer to get the Jazz to trade Markkanen to the Lakers would include Rui Hachimura, unprotected 2029 first round pick, unprotected 2028 first round pick swap, and remove 1–4 protection from 2027 first round pick.
This trade would essentially give Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz 3 straight years of totally unprotected rights to the Los Angeles Lakers’ post LeBron James first round draft picks for the 2027, 2028, and 2029 NBA seasons.
Hopefully, that’s the kind of offer that could motivate Danny Ainge to trade Lauri Markkanen to the Lakers. It leverages the top-four protected 2027 first round draft pick Los Angeles previously traded to Utah last year.
The Lakers top offseason trade target should be the Utah Jazz’ Lauri Markkanen, whom would immediately and dramatically upgrade our starting lineup and roster to legitimate championship caliber.
2. DeJounte Murray
Dejounte Murray, SG, 6′ 5″, 180 lbs, 26-years old, 1-yrs @ $17.4M NG
22.5/5.3/6.4 on 18.8/7.1/3.4 shooting 45.9/36.3/79.4% in 35.7 mpg
26-year old combo guard Dejounte Murray should be second on the Lakers’ offseason trade target big board as he is the perfect two-way third star to upgrade the team’s backcourt and complement superstars James and Davis.
While the Lakers had an interest in trading for Dejounte Murray last season, they were unwilling to include draft picks as compensation. In retrospect, Dejounte enjoyed a clutch breakout season with the Hawks.
Murray showcased his two-way skillsets last season, averaging over 20 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists per game while sharing backcourt duties with Young and shooting 36.3% from deep on 7.1 attempts per game.
The pairing of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray has not worked for the Hawks. Recent reports indicate the Hawks are likely to keep Trae Young and their #1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft and trade Dejounte Murray.
That’s great news for the Lakers. Trading for Dejounte, who makes $25.4 million per year, would let them build a deeper, more diverse roster than trading for Trae, whose $43.0 million annual salary would hobble them.
The Lakers know Russell and Reaves are not good enough defensively to succeed as a championship backcourt but both are still valuable rotation players who would be hard to replace. The smarter move is keep both.
If the Lakers can trade for Dejounte Murray, they should pair him with D’Angelo Russell while moving Austin Reaves to the bench. The Lakers would then have the elite volume 3-point shooting backcourt they need.
The Lakers should send Hachimura, Hood-Schifino, unprotected 2031 first round pick, and 2030 first round pick swap to the Hawks for Dejounte Murray to become their third star next to superstars James and Davis.
3. Jonathan Isaac
Jonathan Isaac, PF, 6′ 10″, 230 lbs, 26-years old, 1-yrs @ $17.4M NG
6.8/4.5/0.5 on 4.9/1.9/1.4 shooting 51.0/37.5/77.1% in 15.8 mpg
26-year old Jonathan Isaac is the ‘wild card’ on the Lakers offseason trade target big board. Unlike Markkanen and Murray, Jonathan Isaac has such a rough injury history he should be easily acquired with the right offer.
While health makes Isaac’s floor dangerously low, Jonathan has such a high ceiling and is such a perfect fit next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis that the Lakers should seriously consider trading with Orlando to get him.
Isaac is without question the best two-way player of the four candidates. Defensively, he is the closest thing to an Anthony Davis clone you can find. He can protect the rim and defend all five positions at all three levels.
What makes the Boston Celtics so tough is that they have five guys on offense who can shoot the three and five guys on defense who can switch everything. This is the ultimate extension of positionless basketball.
While the Lakers would need assurances from their medical staff that Isaac is fully recovered, he is the kind of young, affordable two-way star who can stretch the floor, protect the rim, and switch out on the perimeter.
Orlando is so stacked with talent that there may no longer be a place for the now healthy and uber talented Jonathan Isaac despite the Magic sticking with him through three complete straight seasons lost to major injuries.
The $17.4 million final year salary of Isaac’s contract is not guaranteed. The Lakers should offer a package of Rui Hachimura and a top-four protected 2029 first round draft pick to the Magic for the 26-year old Jonathan Isaac.
Jonathan Isaac is the ‘wild card’ option among these four young affordable stars who could become superstars on Lakers as he has a lower floor but a higher ceiling and may be more attainable than Markkanen or Murray.
4. Mikal Bridges
Mikal Bridges, SF, 6′ 6″, 209 lbs, 27-years old, 2-yrs @ $23.3M
19.6/4.5/3.6 on 15.8/7.2/3.9 shooting 43.6/37.2/81.4% in 34.8 mpg
Mikal Bridges is the last and probably the hardest of the four affordable young stars for the Lakers to trade for. Recent rumors indicate that the Nets may prefer to keep Bridges and find a second star to pair with him.
The prototype 3&D wing that every NBA team covets, Bridges will likely draw more interest than even Markannen and Murray and will certainly require multiple picks and swaps for a team to pry him away from Nets.
Bridges is a long shot for the Lakers. His greatest advantage is he is a true small forward, which would mean Anthony Davis would play center while LeBron James would be able to play his preferred power forward position.
The Lakers desperately need a bigger point-of-attack defender who can guard the 6′ 7″ to 6′ 10″ wing scorers every team in the West seems to have. Lakers need to stop trying to defend these scorers with smaller guards.
Lakers fans are tired of watching bigger wing scorers taking smaller Lakers shooting guards into the paint and easily shooting over them with easy midrange jump shots. That’s why the Lakers need somebody like Bridges.
One of the major decisions the Lakers need to make when rebuilding their starting lineup going forward is who plays power forward. If the Lakers opt to start two-bigs, then Davis or the second big will play power forward.
The problem with that scenario is that it forces LeBron James to play small forward, which often involves chasing bigger wing scorers around multiple screens and picks, not what you want your 40-year old superstar doing.
Mikal Bridges would be a great fit as the Lakers starting small forward as he would allow Anthony Davis and LeBron James to play the 5 and 4 though they’re still a longshot to trade for him due to heavy competition.
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Aloha Tom, I would consider Laurie but there will be teams with better offers(seeOKC) if he comes available. Sometimes I don’t feel like you appreciate talent on your own team. Let’s do a comparison between Rui as a starter last year and Bridges. . Bridges was the Nets number one option. He played around 35 minutes, averaged 19.6 ppg, shot 43% from the field, 37% from 3 on 7 attempts, and 4.5 rebounds. His defensive rating was 117. Now Rui started 39 games. After Darvin stopped dicking him around he averaged16.7 in 31 minutes as the 4 or 5th option. He shot 57% from the field 43% from 3 on 4 attempts and his defensive rating was 113.9. For context Kawhi was 113. Is Bridges a better player? Yes, but is he so much better that you want to give up all those assets? I wouldn’t. I would use a pick to bring in Caruso. And you only give up Vincent. Caruso and Rui makes the Lakers stronger then just Bridges. As for Isaak, he is a very good defender that can make a 3 but he doesn’t shoot them often. He came into the league in the same draft as Lonzo. Lonzo has played 45 more games. Isaak only played 16 minutes a game last year and it was the second most games he has played in his career and he still missed 24 games. If we traded Rui for him, the Magic should be the team sending a first because Rui is a better all around player.
I like Rui and think he is better offensively than Bridges. Problem is Rui just does not have good defensive instincts imo. He’s obviously our first trading chip imo. The main benefit of Bridges is he’s a true three so LeBron could play the four.
We could always use more shooting but our bigger problem is too many one-way players. Top priority imo is swapping those for legitimate two-way players, including at least one and hopefully two younger stars who could become better with the Lakers.
My goal would be to trade for Murray and Isaac. Both will be on the market. Murray will have a lot of competition but Isaac is probably more feasable because of Jonathan’s injury history and cost to Lakers.
I’m curious as to what JJ will want to do with DLO. Don’t want to let him walk for nothing. I think you re-sign him even if only to trade him at the deadline. Just cannot let him walk. There’s a chance he may end up taking that player option after all. That would be best.
Obviously you weren’t paying attention to Rui on defense. That 113.9 defensive rating is very good. Arron Gordon from the Nuggets was 114.5. His defensive improvement was noticed by the coaching staff, teammates and media. AD was particularly impressed. And the upside for Rui was he defended the 3 well but could also defend the 4 and even the 5 at times. By the way, so far the Nets have been saying they want to add to Bridges so it’s kind of a moot point. But I also wouldn’t trade Rui for a guard because now you have a big hole at the 3, with not a lot of money to fill it.
When you look at matching salaries, Rui is the logical trading chip to go first unless DLO opts in, which is possible. Lakers don’t have tradable contracts of $17m to $18M other than them.
Defensive ratings can make sense when comparing teammates but the individual numbers become a lot harder to compare because of the teams a player is on.
Finally, the eye test does tell me that Rui has improved but he’s still prone to ball watching and losing focus. A2D.
Hi Tom. It has been a very long time since I stopped by. Nice to see the same names in the blog.
I love your Top 4 Trade Targets. LM and DM are my favorites. You are right about MB. He is the toughest and can be considered a pipe dream for us to trade.
However, I would not think that getting Lauri will only require Rui, 1 1st, a pick swap and removing the restriction from the 2027 1st pick. I bet Danny will want more, maybe asked for all 3 picks, Rui and Reaves. Danny is a menace in trades. Look at what he did in Boston. Before he left, those are just finishing trades that were done. He did all the work. Acquired all of those picks to make what the team is right now.
For the Murray Trade, I do not see as well the Hawks allowing us to get Murray for Rui, and 1 or 2 1st picks. They asked for Reaves before and that will still be the starting point to get Murray. The picks they might be okay with but the players that they would want would actually be Reaves to start talking with us again.
Isaac is a nice player to have as well. I would not send Orlando a 1st pick for him as he is too injury prone. Maybe 2-3 2nd would be more than enough and give Vincent.
For Mickal. Again, it is a pipe dream. A trade that is around 97% fiction and only 3% chance to get him.
If in any scenario that we can get Lauri based on the trade offer you have proposed, it will be great and I would aim for the stars and get Murray with our remaining 2 1st picks in a separate trade and build a true team. I would give up Reaves for Murray only if we can get Lauri first. Keep DLo and Rui as much as possible and find role players that are willing to take a veterans minimum with a chance to play for a championship team. I also agree with your Draft Prospects. Those guys can complement the line-up right away.
Imagine if you have Lauri at 5, Davis at 4, Lebron at 3, DLo or Murray at 2 or 1. Those two guys can switch. Even Lebron, Murray and DLo can switch. Since Murray is tall enough and good defesively to guard opposing SF. If we can keep either Reaves or Rui will be added bonus. If we lose both, it will still be fine for the price of Lauri and Murray. We will have our big 3 for the forseeable future.
Cheers. Lovely topic. still reading more of your topics below. Thank you
Thanks, Havoc. Great to see you stop by. I would hope the Lakers would try to take advantage of the 2027 pick to try and get Danny to bite on controlling the Lakers’ post LeBron first round picks for 2027, 2028, and 2029.
My dream additions would be backup center with #17 and trade for Lauri and DeJounte. While I would try and keep both DLO and Reaves, I would probably trade Reaves first. I think JJ will want to keep DLP.
JJ talked with LeBron on Mind the Game of how DLO transforming himself into a high volume high percentage 3-point shooter turned the Lakers offense into top five. LeBron looked at JJ and asked if he wanted him to shoot more threes. JJ laughed and said “No, you’re fine”.
You really need to stop overusing the term Superstar. Maybe Markinen and Murray are barely stars, much less super anythings. Bridges is a quality starter. Isaac is a bench player.