The Los Angeles Lakers‘ lack of moves in the offseason has been a worry, but they do have trade assets if the right deal comes up. While they haven’t made any moves to better their roster, they did extend LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell picked up his player option, and other players on the roster landed new deals to stay in Los Angeles.
However, as currently constructed, they might have to make a trade to become one of the top teams in the Western Conference after losing in the first round during the 2024 playoffs. Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report believes Russell is going to be the odd man out, predicting that he’ll be dealt by the 2025 trade deadline.
“The Lakers have appeared less than thrilled with D’Angelo Russell for a while now. First, they stripped him of his starting spot in the 2023 playoffs.
“While they gave him a new contract that following offseason, they only did so after he waived his implied no-trade clause,” Buckley wrote on August 2. “And while they didn’t yank him out of the first five in this year’s playoffs, they did see his numbers implode once again, as he averaged more shots (14.6) than points (14.2) while posting a grotesque shooting slash (38.4/31.8/50).”
Buckley’s reasoning is that the Lakers are looking to upgrade the roster, and he’s the obvious player to be dealt due to his two-year, $36.0 million contract.
“Whenever they do, though, Russell will surely be let go in the exchange. They’ll probably need his salary to make the money work if it’s any kind of substantial swap, and he should have at least modest market value for his on-court work,” Buckley wrote. “Flaws and all, he was still one of just seven players to average 18 points, six assists and three three-pointers last season.”
Russell Has ‘Neutral to Negative Trade Value’
Considering the rumors Russell has been in throughout the past few months as the Los Angeles Lakers look to better their roster, there seems to be an issue around the league about his potential value. Russell, despite averaging 18.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and shooting 41.5% from 3-point range on 7.2 attempts per game, seemingly doesn’t have much value around the league.
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Russell and many of the other Lakers’ tradeable assets have negative trade value around the league.
“D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura, they have somewhere between neutral to negative trade value across the league,” Buha said in July.
“There are certain teams that have interest in maybe one of those guys, but there are very few if any teams that have interest in multiple of those guys, and that’s ultimately been why the Lakers have been not able to find a deal.”
Who the Lakers Could Land if They Traded Russell
Russell would still need to be packaged with another player in most trades. The Los Angeles Lakers have had rumored interest in Jerami Grant of the Portland Trail Blazers. Grant’s $29.7 million contract wouldn’t work in a trade for Russell, who’s set to make $18.6 million next season.
They have two tradeable first round picks and others to match salary, so there’s likely a scenario where they can find a deal for him at some point.
Jon Conahan covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com. Since 2019, his sports coverage has appeared at Sports Illustrated, oddschecker, ClutchPoints and Sportskeeda. More about Jon Conahan
