Lakers Shouldn't Trade Valuable Assets for Backups Just to Help AD amid NBA Rumors

Not to spin a broken record here, but the Los Angeles Lakers are pretty obviously in need of usable depth at the center position.

That seemed pretty clear entering the 2024-25 NBA campaign, and it's only grown more obvious since.

As objectively awesome as Anthony Davis might be, he doesn't have the cleanest injury history (or injury present, as he's battling both plantar fasciitis and an eye injury). Jaxson Hayes has a sprained ankle, and Christian Wood suffered a setback in his recovery from knee surgery. Two-way player Christian Koloko has logged rotation minutes out of necessity.

This is clearly an issue, and in a perfect world, it's one the Purple and Gold could address on the trade market. In reality, though, doing any kind of deal for a reserve role player is tricky at best.

The Lakers are looking for options, per Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, and "have had discussions with a number of teams about big men." The team has yet to gain any traction, though, in part because there are several other "serviceable big" shoppers making this a "pretty strong seller's market."

Given these conditions, the Lakers are in the unenviable spot of potentially overpaying for a niche support player. And they'd be drawing from a limited asset pool to do it.

If L.A. otherwise had everything it needed to put together a title run, that wouldn't make a difference. It doesn't. The Lakers might have a 9-4 record, but their middle of the pack efficiency (plus-0.7 points per 100 possessions, 12th overall) suggests this isn't some sort of powerhouse contender.

In other words, it's not like the Lakers are a Jonas Valančiūnas or a Brook Lopez away from elbowing their way into the league's elite tier. There are defensive sieves all across the perimeter, the three-point volume still isn't where coach JJ Redick would like and there aren't enough two-way contributors in the wing rotation.

Whether or not you believe this team needs a third star, it clearly has other items on the wish list. So, the front office has to be careful about how it invests the assets that are available to trade.

Without coveted young prospects on the roster, the Lakers essentially have two first-round picks to convince trade partners to give them whatever they want. Those picks are valuable, but they are finite. And they are rife with long-term risks, too, given all the unanswered questions about this franchise's post-LeBron James future.

L.A. has some second-round picks to shop around, but those only carry so much sway on the market. Those picks probably need to be packaged together to add anything of substance, so sacrificing a couple of them now would restrict this team's ability to chase something bigger down the line.

So, while it's obvious (and correct) to say the Lakers could stand to beef up their big man ranks behind Davis, it's far less clear how they can accomplish that without potentially hamstringing themselves for future trades. Especially if the trade costs for reserve centers are through the roof.

At the least, L.A. has to wait this out and see if asking prices become more reasonable closer to the deadline. If not, the Lakers might have to stomach this shortcoming and hope they can improve enough in other, more pressing areas to take a bigger step forward than adding a competent backup behind Davis would allow.