Could Lakers trade for a center before Opening Night?

Could the #Lakers trade for a center before Opening Night?https://t.co/iAVKG7YqOz

— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) October 11, 2024

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.”