Lakers Should Make Nic Claxton Top Trade Target over Collins, Kessler amid NBA Rumors

The Los Angeles Lakers must add a center (or maybe two) during the 2025 NBA offseason.

And the whole hoops world knows it.

That means the Lakers are effectively heading into trade negotiations with leverage already not on their side. As Clutch Points' Anthony Irwin relayed, "trade talks have not gone as the Lakers would have liked because teams are once again trying to benefit directly from the Lakers' bungling of the center position and mishandling of their assets over the last few years."

As for the specifics of those trade talks, Irwin noted conversations have been had regarding Brooklyn Nets big man Nic Claxton, Portland Trail Blazers oft-injured center Robert Williams III and Utah Jazz paint protector Walker Kessler. Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune added Utah's pogo-stick power forward John Collins to the list (via SI.com).

The Lakers have options, in other words, but are any of them great?

Well, negotiating with Jazz CEO Danny Ainge is rarely fun, and it sounds like a nightmare for a team lacking leverage as L.A. is. Kessler could be a solid fit in theory as a shot-blocker, glass-cleaner and reliable short-range finisher, but the Jazz might need all of the Lakers' assets to let him go.

Collins might be a dynamic pick-and-choose partner with Luka Dončić, since the bouncy big man can both hammer home lobs and shred nets from three. Collins isn't a center, though, nor a particularly helpful defender. And, again, he might require more in trade assets than he's worth by virtue of being in Utah.

The healthy version of Williams could be phenomenal. In addition to checking the typical rim-running boxes, he also offers some defensive versatility and short-roll playmaking. He's just never healthy—and that's only a slight exaggeration. He's made 61 appearances over the last three campaigns combined and has only topped 60 games in one of his seven NBA seasons.

Claxton looks like the preferred option here, then, and not in a last-man-standing kind of way.

He is a disruptive defender at the rim and nimble mover away from it. His career 63.6 field-goal percentage speaks to his reliability as a finisher. He's also comfortable (for a center) with the ball in his hands, offering hints of driving and distributing abilities.

He also shouldn't be too difficult to pry out of Brooklyn. Sure, the Nets will seek out an asset or two—and the Lakers will need to send out enough salary to match his $25.4 million pay rate—but they shouldn't ask for the sun, moon and stars. Not when he's a 26-year-old non-star on a long-term rebuilder who didn't play his best basketball this past season.

He'd be a clear need-filler for L.A., though. And he has a lot more juice left in him than if the Lakers tried going the veteran free agent route with Brook Lopez or Clint Capela, whom Irwin mentioned as being ideally added as backups in free agency.

If the Lakers can get Claxton without emptying their asset collection, that feels like the best option on the board.