Biggest Needs and Bold Predictions for Los Angeles Lakers' 2025 NBA Offseason

The Los Angeles Lakers entered their first-round matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves as heavy favorites, but they were eliminated in just five games.

And despite a strong closing kick to the season that included the recently acquired Luka Dončić averaging 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists, the postseason failure sent them into the offseason with plenty of questions.

We'll answer several below, as we look at the biggest needs and some bold predictions for L.A.'s summer.

Lakers Need a Center

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For years, it's been clear that Luka's gifts as an offensive engine find another gear when he's playing alongside a high-end, rim-running center.

Over the last season and a half, he had Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II basically alternating minutes with him, and the Dallas Mavericks had plenty of success because of it.

During that stretch, Dallas was plus-9.2 points per 100 possessions when Luka played with Lively, plus-8.2 when he played with Gafford and plus-2.0 when he played with neither.

When he first landed with L.A., there was some thought that Jaxson Hayes could fill that role. But it turns out that the magic of Luka and a big finisher isn't entirely about Luka. The bigs bear plenty of responsibility too, and Hayes wasn't ready to carry it.

By the end of the Lakers' postseason run, he'd been completely removed from the rotation.

This summer, L.A. desperately needs to find a starting-caliber center to run pick-and-roll with Luka (and to a lesser extent, Austin Reaves and LeBron James), protect the rim and help clean up the boards.

And fortunately, the Lakers have the assets to get such a player.

...And They'll Offer Some Serious Trade Assets to Get One

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Because the Mavericks failed to extract anywhere near Luka's market value in the trade that sent him to L.A., the Lakers still have a pretty serious stash of trade assets to spend on other players.

Rui Hachimura (who makes $18.2 million in 2025-26), Dorian Finney-Smith ($15.3 million), Jarred Vanderbilt ($11.5 million), Gabe Vincent ($11.5 million) and Maxi Kleber (whose expiring contract will pay him $11 million this season) are all on very movable deals. Twenty-four-year-old Dalton Knecht is an interesting young(ish) prospect to add to a trade. And L.A. has access to multiple first-round picks to trade outright or in pick swaps.

Some combination of the above should be enough to make serious offers for centers like Nicolas Claxton, Jakob Poeltl or John Collins.

Lakers Need More Three-Point Shooting

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Assuming L.A. finds the right 1-5 pairing for Luka, the next step would be to surround with as much three-point shooting as possible.

This past season, the Lakers were 15th in the league in threes per game and 14th in three-point percentage. And the trade package to land a 5 could cost them one of their high-volume outside shooters.

The path out of the middle of the league in this crucial category could be more volume from Reaves and LeBron. More playing time for Knecht probably wouldn't hurt, either.

But it's likelier that L.A. will need to find a couple more solid shooters to fill out the rotation, whether through trades or free agency.

The Luka Extension

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While there may have been some hope from the 29 other fan bases that the Luka-L.A. partnership would go badly enough to force him to think about leaving, it sounds like a contract extension this summer is a real possibility. It might even be likely.

"I would be shocked if there's not some sort of extension this summer, you know, and what that looks like, there's a lot of factors...with what I know of Luka, and I haven't talked to him directly about this, but you know, talking to people who know Luka well, I think he wants to give the Lakers, like, he's fully committed to L.A. now," ESPN's Tim MacMahon said on the Dan Patrick Show in early May. "His heart was broken, but he's fully committed now to the Lakers, and you know, his goal now is to win championships with that franchise."

Like LeBron, Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain before him, Luka came to the Lakers from elsewhere and will almost certainly stay with perhaps the league's most famous franchise for a long time.

And, given the historic start to his career (he was First Team All-NBA in five of his first six seasons), it's not hard to imagine him joining the aforementioned greats as Laker champions.

And They Need Him Closer to his Rookie Shape

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Getting there may require some work on Luka's part, though.

There's no question he's improved as a player since he entered the NBA in 2018. His timing and feel as a playmaker have gotten better. His use of change of pace and angles as a driver and scorer has too. His three-point percentage of 33.8 over his first five years is well shy of the 37.6 percent he shot over the last two seasons.

But when you happen upon early-career highlights of Luka, it's tough not to wonder what that physical version of the star would look like with the current version's skill level.

Back then, Luka was undoubtedly more explosive to the rim, a little quicker off the bounce and probably more capable of surviving on the perimeter on defense.

Now, his game is predicated far more on guile and skill.

But if he could combine those two, Luka would immediately vault back into the "best in the world" debate and make L.A. a bona fide title contender.