Lakers Trade Rumors: Hottest Reports Surrounding Los Angeles

Less than 24 hours remain before the 2018 NBA trade deadline, and it's still hard to tell if the Los Angeles Lakers will be active participants.

Trade winds haven't stopped swirling around them, but they aren't blowing as hard as they have been. It's almost eerily calm, which could either signal a snoozefest is imminent or lure people to sleep before jolting them awake with some off-the-wall exchange no one saw coming.

All possibilities remain in play, and here's a rundown of the most recent reports.

To Move or Not to Move

This is not how the anticipated race to a pair of max-contract slots was supposed to go. Then again, the need for maximum flexibility in 2018 free agency no longer seems nearly as great.

The Lakers are "recalibrating" their free-agency focus from the 2018 class to the deeper 2019 pool, sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski. That greatly diminishes the need for financially motivated deadline deals, which might mean longer Hollywood stays for oft-cited trade candidates Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson.

To be clear, neither player seems off the table at this point. But L.A. has more wiggle room with this let's-stay-patient strategy, which means nothing needs to be done unless it serves the organization's best interest.

Right now, that isn't happening. The Lakers have discussed potential exchanges involving Randle and Clarkson that would have netted first- or second-round picks, per ESPN's report, but the offers failed to include significant cap savings. That has reduced the odds of either or both players moving by 3 p.m. ET Thursday to just "50-50 at best," one league source told ESPN.

While a coin flip could go either way, the Lakers don't seem to be forcing the issue, as Shelburne relayed during an appearance on ESPN Los Angeles:

If the Lakers aren't scrambling for cap space, they could easily decide both Randle and Clarkson are worth keeping around.

Randle is 23 years old and perpetually improving. His player efficiency rating has climbed more than five points since 2015-16 (from 13.9 to 19.3), and his defensive versatility makes him an asset in the modern game. Clarkson is only 25, and his per-36-minute averages of 22.1 points and 5.0 assists speak to his ability to carry an offense in spurts.

Those are also reasons for clubs to call L.A., which has the luxury of knowing its deadline approach doesn't need to be steered toward a specific outcome.

New Name on the Rumor Mill

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

Curveballs can come unexpectedly this time of year, and Basketball Insiders' Steve Kyler tossed out a doozy connecting the Lakers to 2016's No. 8 pick, Marquese Chriss:

File this one under things that make you go hmmm.

Chriss is an interesting project. He's a 6'10" supreme athlete who wreaks havoc above the rim and regularly launches from long range (albeit while converting threes at only a 31.3 percent clip for his career). He needs a lot of work, but at 20 years old, there's plenty of time for him to climb toward his towering potential.

It's easy to understand why a rebuilder like the Lakers would have interest—yes, even if they have a handful of promising, young bigs already.

What's harder to figure out is why the similarly rebuilding Phoenix Suns would consider letting Chriss go when his value isn't exactly peaking. His field-goal percentage is down to an unsettling 40.9 this season, and he was recently suspended after arguing with an assistant coach.

Unless the Suns think he's already stuck on a downward trajectory, there is no apparent incentive to deal him now. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 and Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic both downplayed the possibility of Chriss going anywhere:

There's a train of thought you should never say never at the deadline, but this feels like an extreme long shot.

All statistics used courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com. Salary information obtained via Basketball Insiders.