Lakers Rumors: 'Difference-Making Perimeter Talent' Trade Eyed in 2024 NBA Offseason

While the Los Angeles Lakers are making a surge up the standings this season, their front office is making plans for potential moves they would like to make during the offseason.

Per ESPN's Zach Lowe, the Lakers are expected to be in the market for a "difference-making perimeter talent" on the trade market this summer.

The Lakers might actually have an opportunity to make that dream a reality this summer when they have more assets to include in a trade.

One of the reasons general manager Rob Pelinka opted to sit tight at the trade deadline is because he didn't feel any of the available options would make the Lakers significantly better, and there's a path to acquiring a potential star player in the offseason when they will have three first-round picks to trade.

Of course, the Lakers also have to contend with the possibility that LeBron James might not return next season. He can become a free agent this offseason by opting out of his $51.4 million salary for 2024-25.

It still seems unlikely James will leave Los Angeles, where he signed as a free agent in the summer of 2018 even though the franchise's results from the previous five years did nothing to indicate it was in position to warrant his services.

But there have been enough rumblings about James potentially having interest in playing for other teams, or other teams interested in acquiring him, to make the Lakers nervous. Some of those rumblings come from James, like when he's openly flirting with the New York Knicks during a game at Madison Square Garden.

As for players who could fit the Lakers' desire for a "difference-making" perimeter player, The Athletic's Jovan Buha has cited Trae Young as likely being their No. 1 target to push for a title as soon as next season and help build the bridge early for the post-James future with Young and Anthony Davis as the franchise's next great duo.

The Lakers are doing a good job right now of figuring things out with their current roster. They are entering the All-Star break with a 30-26 record, having won six of their last seven games.