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Lakers Must Trade for Center to Help LeBron, AD Win Title

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The Los Angeles Lakers need depth at center and according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the team is exploring options to add a big man to the roster.

It must or risk wasting the final years of LeBron James’ career and Anthony Davis’ prime.

Christian Wood is still recovering from knee surgery while Christian Koloko is still waiting to be cleared for action after experiencing blood clots in his lungs. That leaves Jaxson Hayes as the primary backup to Anthony Davis, who had previously expressed his desire not to play the five position.

There are options for the team to consider.

Atlanta’s Clint Capela has an expiring $22 million deal that would immediately improve the Lakers’ roster and further establish them as a legitimate threat out west, but the team would have to be willing to trade a valued player for him as the Hawks are not likely to sit back and accept nothing of substance in return.

Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura, and/or Jarred Vanderbilt would almost have to be involved in whatever deal the team would put together, and even then, dealing Vanderbilt to another team undermines the intent to get stronger at center.

That there would be no commitment beyond 2024 is equally as concerning given what the team would give up to acquire Capela, who averaged 25.8 minutes, 11.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists last season.

The Utah Jazz’s characteristically enormous trade demand for Walker Kessler (two first-rounders per Marc Stein) means the talented young center is unlikely to be a realistic option for the Lakers, even if he fits the team and could make for a potent one-two punch with Davis.

The best option for the team might be Robert Williams III, a defensive-minded center from the Portland Trailblazers. While he has a history of injuries and has played in more than 50 games only twice in his career, he can be acquired relatively easily from a team brimming with centers and at a reasonable cap hit of just under $12.5 million in 2024-25.

If the intent is to keep Davis at the center position and use Vanderbilt once he is back at the beginning of the season, acquiring Williams for depth carries much less risk than if the team needed him to step in and play significant minutes every game.

Williams is a career 72.9 percent shooter from the paint, with 4.3 defensive rebounds, 2.6 offensive rebounds, and 1.7 blocks. His stats will not jump off the page at anyone, but he plays gritty defense and can provide the team a level of toughness at the rim that it could use as it looks to set a tone in a jam-packed Western Conference.

For a team that has championship aspirations under first-year coach JJ Redick, it cannot roll into another season in which James and Davis are healthy but a lack of depth behind them limits production and ultimately lands them in play-in games.

The front office must make a deal to secure quality at a needed position if the team will live up to expectations. Otherwise, the result is another lost year, something neither of the organization’s two biggest stars has many of left.

It will not be easy, especially given their abysmal cap situation, but some creative maneuvering by the front office should still be able to make something work with a trade here and some salary dumping there, to ensure the team maximizes its potential.

Russell thinks he can break Lakers 3-point record again this season

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D’Angelo Russell’s breakout season last year featured many memorable moments. Whether it was his game-winning shot against Milwaukee, his insane 3-pointer against the Warriors or his performance in the play-in game in New Orleans, Russell shined bright across the second half of the season.

The end result of that production was him setting a franchise record for 3-pointers in a single season. He finished the year with 226 makes, shattering the previous high mark of 183 makes.

The goal now? Break the record again.

During Media Day, D’Lo spoke on Spectrum SportsNet and spoke about why he thinks he can break the record again.

“I think so. Honestly, respectfully, I haven’t played in a system or structure of this caliber that he’s trying to implement. So for me, I’m super excited playing with the ball, without the ball, just playing high-level basketball. You could easily go to a team and get shipped off somewhere and you’re not playing as high-level of basketball as you were playing and you have to recalibrate that. For me to be in this position again, I’m grateful.”

This wasn’t the first time D’Lo spoke about structure during Media Day. It is clearly something that he took notice of and appreciated before training camp even started.

Could Lakers trade for a center before Opening Night?

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Arguably the biggest weakness on the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster going into the 2024-25 season is the center position.

They of course still have Anthony Davis, but the last two postseason losses to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets proved that isn’t enough in certain matchups.

The Lakers did not make any moves this offseason to address the center position as both Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood picked up their player options. They brought in Christian Koloko on a two-way contract, but he has still not been cleared by the league to play after dealing with a serious blood clot issue.

Wood is also dealing with a knee injury that will force him to miss the start of the season, leaving the Lakers short on depth in the frontcourt behind Davis and Hayes.

With that being the case, the Lakers have looked to the trade market for center upgrades and are continuing to do so leading up to Opening Night, per Shams Charania of ESPN:

“Sources tell me the Lakers have been exploring potentially adding a big man, a center to their roster. Not sure exactly when that will take place, but they have started looking into the market place. Christian Wood remains sidelined, he’s got a knee issue. He had surgery recently and so they’re waiting for him to get back. But Jaxson Hayes, in the interim, has really stepped up in training camp. He’s been a positive factor for the Lakers. But another thing to keep an eye on is Christian Koloko, they signed him to a two-way contract before training camp, he was expected to play a potential reserve role on this roster and our Lakers reporter Dave McMenamin and I have heard internally the Lakers doctors have felt confident that he will be cleared by the league’s fitness to play panel due to his blood clot issue, but that is still an ongoing process. The Lakers are still waiting for answers from the league, from the [Players Association] on his clearance, that’s going to be a major factor to keep an eye on because this was a guy in Koloko who was gonna play a potential role down the stretch of this Lakers season.”

The name the Lakers have been linked to the most is Jonas Valanciunas, who they had interest in signing in free agency before he landed with the Washington Wizards.

While the Wizards may be open to trading him, they cannot do so until Dec. 15 so the Lakers would have to wait a couple of months.

If they wanted to make a deal now or before the start of the season, some names to watch for could be Walker Kessler, Nikola Vucevic, Isaiah Jackson, Nick Richards and Day’Ron Sharpe. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka would likely need to include draft capital in any package for a solid big man though, which to this point he has been unwilling to do.

JJ Redick likes Anthony Davis at power forward for Lakers

Part of the reason the Lakers are looking for another center is because Anthony Davis likes playing power forward. Head coach JJ Redick also recently said he likes Davis at the forward spot and explained why.

“It’s definitely something we could use in our rotation,” Redick said. “What I really like is having AD at the four and him being able to be in that switching group while still having some size at the five with Jaxson. That part of it I like a lot.”