Lakers Rumors: LA Not Expected to Make Trade Until End of December at Earliest

If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to make a trade, it's not going to be until the end of December at the earliest, according to The Athletic's Jovan Buha.

However, Buha added that the Purple and Gold "have an urgency to get a deal done sooner than later," but they are "at the mercy of the trade cycle and the other teams' developing motives."

The Lakers have been one of the worst teams in the Western Conference this season, entering Friday's game against the Denver Nuggets with an 11-16 record. Having to fill out their roster with players on veteran minimum deals has really hurt their chances of capitalizing on having both LeBron James and Anthony Davis in L.A.

While the Lakers are looking to bring in some players, everyone aside from James and Davis is likely on the trade block. Buha lists Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn as the names that stand out.

The Lakers have long expressed interest in trading Westbrook since he turned in a subpar performance in 2021-22. However, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported Thursday that Westbrook's improvement throughout the month of December "has made it increasingly unlikely that he will be traded before the league's Feb. 9 deadline."

The 34-year-old became L.A.'s sixth man in late October, and he has averaged 15.2 points, 7.9 assists and 5.8 rebounds since then. Additionally, he's averaging 28.2 minutes per game.

It's not surprising that the Lakers could be interested in moving Beverley and Nunn as both players have been disappointing this year.

Beverley, who was acquired in a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, is averaging 4.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 21 games while shooting 30.3 percent from the floor and 25.4 percent from deep.

Nunn, meanwhile, is averaging 5.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 23 games while shooting 35.9 percent from the floor and 27.7 percent from deep.

In terms of players the Lakers might be interested in bringing in, they have been linked to Bojan Bogdanović, Evan Fournier, Cam Reddish, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Kuzma, Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, Kyrie Irving and Doug McDermott, per Buha.

The Purple and Gold would also have interest in Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal if they were made available.

In any circumstance, the Lakers need to decide whether they would be open to parting with their 2027 and 2029 first-round draft picks. If they make those selections available, the return would be more significant.