When the Los Angeles Lakers made the trade heard around the world in February, stunning the NBA by sending four-time All-NBA first teamer Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks for five-timer Luka Dončić — who is six years younger — their intention was clearly to put the team in position to win one more championship while LeBron James was still playing.
That did not happen. Not only did the Lakers fall to even get to the NBA Finals, they did not make it out of the first round. They did not even make it past Game Five of the first round. Despite surging to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference after the big trade, the Lakers were largely dominated by the sixth-seed Minnesota Timberwolves.
With James entering his 23rd NBA season and turning 41 years old on December 30, the sense of urgency to get him that championship, and to tie the Boston Celtics for the NBA record 18 titles, will only get more powerful.
There seems no question that the Lakers will be forced to do something to upgrade their roster, to a point where the Finals are at least in sight. But what? With their current roster, Los Angeles is already $59.8 million over the salary cap, and closing in on the first “apron,” which carries significant restrictions on player movement and acquisitions, as well as increased “luxury” tax penalties.
At this point, the Lakers are about $4.5 million under the first apron threshold — and $16.2 million under the second apron limit. Exceeding the second apron comes with restrictions that can cripple a team’s ability to rebuild, or do much of anything at all with its roster.
With that in mind, one NBA expert on Tuesday proposed a trade that would give the Lakers a significant upgrade, creating a new “Big Three” rather than simply the James-Dončić duo, to propel the 2025-2026 version of the team well into the playoffs, and perhaps even all the way to the top.
The trade idea would send seven-foot power forward, eight-year veteran Lauri Markkanen to Los Angeles, bringing his former team the Utah Jazz a package of four players, as well as the possibly most important asset if the package, a 2031 unprotected first-round draft pick.
The Lakers will always be on the hunt for stars yet are limited in trade assets after acquiring Luka Dončić at the deadline. Markkanen is probably the best level of player Los Angeles can reasonably acquire and would be a strong third option behind Dončić and LeBron James,” wrote Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report.
The four players on their way to Utah in Swartz’s trade idea would be forward Rui Hachimura, small forward Dalton Knecht who was the Lakers first-round draft pick last year, reserve point guard Gabe Vincent, and backup big man Maxi Klebewho came over in the trade package that brought Dončić, but who is still recovering from a fractured right foot.
The trade would relieve the Lakers of $44.7 million in total salary, while brining in Markkanen’s $46.3 million for next season — the second year of the five-year, $238 million contract extension he signed with Utah last August. That keeps Los Angeles barely under the first apron.
Markkanen is the only current NBA player, and only the third ever, from Finland — a country better known for producing hockey stars. After playing college ball at Arizona, the Timberwolves made him the seventh pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
The just-completed season was Markkanen’s third in Utah. He averaged 19 points per game, down from 23.2 the previous year and a career-high 25.6 in 2022-2023.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin
