The Los Angeles Lakers have been looking to trade or sign some stars to strengthen their competitiveness as they enter the 2024 offseason. Hopefully, in the next two seasons, under the leadership of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, we can win another championship.
However, LeBron James will be 40 years old next season, and few stars or players are willing to pin their dreams of pursuing a championship on LeBron James, who is about to be 40 years old. The Lakers want to trade reinforcements, but apart from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the other players are not worth much.
Rookies like Bronny James and Dalton Knecht, who are almost part of the team's core plan to build the team in the future, are not tradable. Fadeaway World lists the Lakers' most trade-worthy and tradeable players at the moment, let's take a look at who they are.
1. Reeves
With an annual salary of $12.9 million for the 2024-25 season, Reaves has three seasons left on his contract. In the 2023-24 season, Reaves was full-time, averaging 15.9 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game. In addition to being a little poor defensively, Reaves is an all-around player on the offensive end, with good three-point shooting, breakaways and foul making.
It could be a little difficult for the Lakers to trade Reaves, after all, he's only 26 years old, and the Lakers think he still has potential to explore. Moreover, the Lakers have tried to make offers to other stars, and they all want the Lakers to put Reaves in the trade chips.
2. D'Angelo Russell
With an annual salary of $18.7 million for the 2024-25 season, D'Angelo Russell is in a contract year. In the 2023-24 season, he averaged 18.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game. D'Angelo Russell has a decent breakaway and three-point shooting ability, and he also has a good passing ability.
However, the problem is that D'Angelo Russell's performance is not consistent enough, and the offensive efficiency is very low. Moreover, D'Angelo Russell has been in the playoffs for two consecutive seasons and has become the key to the Lakers' defeat by the Denver Nuggets. Right now, the trade value of D'Angelo Russell is not as good as Japan's Hachimura.
3. Hachimura Fortress
With an annual salary of $17 million for the 2024-25 season, Hachimura has two seasons left on his contract. In the 2023-24 season, Hachimura averaged 13.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. He is the most consistent player in the Lakers' offense and defense except for Zhan Mei.
Now the Lakers have a lot of trade offers, and Hachimura is part of the trade chips. The 26-year-old Hachimura has a certain trade value, after all, he is both offensive and defensive. Most importantly, he proved that he can defend Jokic in a limited amount of time, which is a key factor in what many teams want him to do.
4. Jared Vanderbilt
With an annual salary of $10.7 million for the 2024-25 season, Jarred Vanderbilt has three seasons left on his contract. The Lakers were really difficult, and as soon as Jarred Vanderbilt signed a new contract, he suffered frequent injuries that prevented the team from getting help from him in the playoffs.
Throughout the 2023-24 season, Jarred Vanderbilt played in just 29 games and averaged 5.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, also disappointing the team. However, when he is healthy, he can defend multiple positions, is the team's defensive spearhead, and is also a nightmare for many guards, and the Lakers also have a headache for Jarred Vanderbilt who is plagued by injuries.
5. Schifino
The 2024-25 season has an annual salary of $3.9 million, and he has three seasons left on his contract. As a young player, he hasn't had more opportunities to perform with the Lakers in recent seasons. In fact, the Lakers are aiming to win the championship in the next two seasons, and Schifino may consider leaving the Lakers.
Schifino could consider requesting a trade for a rebuilding team so he can show his talent. With the Lakers, he's already having a hard time to get playing time, and now there's another Bronny James.
He is basically in the Lakers, and he can only wait for LeBron James to retire before he has a chance to come out. However, he won't get too many opportunities to work on himself over two seasons.
6. Max Christie
With an annual salary of $7.1 million for the 2024-25 season, Max Christie recently signed a four-year, $32 million contract extension with the Lakers. As a second-round draft, because he resembles Kobe, he won the favor of Lakers fans and management.
In the 2023-24 season, Max Christie averaged 4.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game. His role is more like a regular 3-and-D player, and his trade value is still quite good, and many teams want to have a player who resembles Kobe.
7. Gabe Vincent
With an annual salary of $11 million for the 2024-25 season, Gabe Vincent has three seasons left on his contract. In the 2023-24 season, Gabe Vincent played only 11 games for the Lakers due to injury problems, averaging 3.1 points, 1.9 assists and 0.8 rebounds per game.
He shot 30.6 percent from the field and 10.7 percent from three-point range. Let the Lakers see that it is cold in their hearts, there is no way, they don't remember it, Kendrick Nunn, who signed the Heat, did not learn a lesson. It didn't take long for another Heat player to be taken.
8. Christian Wood
With an annual salary of $3 million for the 2024-25 season, Christian Wood is heading into a contract year. The Lakers signed him to a two-year, $5.7 million contract, and it looked like a real thing. In the 2023-24 season, he averaged 6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game, and the Lakers really regretted it when they saw him shoot 42.9% from the field and 30.8% from three-point range.
Because at that time, they thought that Christian Wood could at least play an average of 15+5 per game and become the third or fourth man in the team. These are too many of the dips compared to his stats from previous seasons.
However, in the 2023-24 season, Christian Wood was unable to get more opportunities to perform due to off-field problems and being ostracized by the head coach.
9. Jackson Hayes
Jackson Hayes earns $2.4 million a year and is also a contract year. Jackson Hayes chose to return to the Lakers for the final year of his contract. At first, the Lakers took a fancy to his jump, height and reach, believing that he could help the team more on the interior defense and offensive end.
In the 2023-24 season, he averaged 4.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. Considering that Jackson Hayes has also played some good games, the Lakers should reuse him next season, after all, Redick was a teammate with him.
10. Reddish
With an annual salary of $2.4 million for the 2024-25 season, Reddish is also in a contract year. Reddish didn't help the Lakers more last season because of injury issues. Moreover, his defense and three-point shooting did not meet the expectations of the Lakers.
In the 2023-24 season, he played in just 48 games, averaging 5.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game. He shot 38.9 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three-point range.