Report: Lakers Likely Won’t Make Any Trades This Offseason

According to NBA insider Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily, the Los Angeles Lakers likely won’t make any trades this offseason. 

The Lakers drafted Dalton Knecht and Bronny James in the 2024 NBA Draft. Knecht and Bronny are the only two players LA added to the roster this offseason. 

“Another major factor in the Lakers’ stagnant summer: a league that feels it can take advantage of what it considers an inept and desperate organization,” Irwin reported. “For years, fans have decried a ‘Lakers tax’ that raises asking prices in trade negotiations. While it’s certainly true teams don’t like helping the Lakers if they can avoid it, league sources say the focus is more on getting the Lakers to pay up with the understanding eventually Rob Pelinka will have to save his job with some kind of move.”

Los Angeles fired Darvin Ham as head coach and hired former NBA shooting guard JJ Redick, who has never coached in the NBA.

The Lakers went 47-35 in 2023-24. They lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs in five games.

Denver also beat Los Angeles in the 2023 Western Conference Finals in four games. 

The Lakers are interested in acquiring Jerami Grant from the Portland Trail Blazers. However, the Blazers want two first-round picks for Grant and Los Angeles is not going to part ways with two first-round picks for a player who has never been an All-Star. 

“So, even as fans hold onto every new whisper and report that maybe, just maybe, the Lakers will do something, in all likelihood, Pelinka is done for the foreseeable future,” Irwin reported. “Yes, things change quickly in this league and that always needs to be considered, but unless the trade market sees a real shift, the Lakers will finish this offseason with less talent on their roster than they finished last season with.”

Redick will likely start D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Anthony Davis next season.