The Los Angeles Lakers are still open to trading to improve their current roster to compete for the 2024-25 NBA season. However, it has been stated that the team is unwilling to let go of some of its players.
Earlier in the year, they traded away starting point guard D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. While this move helped their defense, it hasn’t moved the needle in their position to contend for the NBA title.
According to Eric Pincus on Tuesday, the organization isn’t interested in communicating with teams that have shown interest in rookie Dalton Knecht and starting forward Rui Hachimura.
“Competing executives have also told B/R that the Lakers (at least to date) have shown no interest in discussing trades that include Rui Hachimura or Dalton Knecht (or, obviously, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Bronny James, etc.),” Pincus wrote. “The two recently acquired players (Finney Smith and Milton) cannot be aggregated in trade before the February 6 deadline—taking Milton out of the equation.”
Report: Lakers have ‘no interest’ in trading Dalton Knecht or Rui Hachimura https://t.co/do2JASWDvX
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) January 7, 2025
Knecht is one of the biggest draft steals in the 2024 class. At 6-foot-6, the rookie wing has impressed the team and fans with his ability to knock down long-range jumpers. He’s averaging 9.7 points and 3.4 rebounds on 35.4% from beyond the arc. On November 19, he had his finest game to date against the Utah Jazz, scoring 37 points and shooting 9 of 12 from beyond the arc.
Hachimura, on the other hand, has become a reliable scorer and defender for the Los Angeles team. In 30 games this season, he’s averaged 12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists.
The Lakers are more interested in trading away Gabe Vincent, Christian Wood, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes.
The Lakers reportedly have high-value assets teams can target in trades
According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, the Lakers have “high-value picks” teams can target in potential draft packages.
“People want the 2029 and 2031 picks just because of the uncertainty (around the Lakers’ long-term future),” Buha said in his show, ‘Buha’s Block’. “I think there is an assumption to some extent that the Lakers will eventually get another star to pair with AD.”
This will all come down once LeBron James decides to retire. The most important question is whether Los Angeles will give up the picks to pursue a star to complement Anthony Davis. James just turned 40 and his retirement could be around the corner. Davis, on the other hand, is 31 and will need all the help he needs once the star forward calls it quits.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
