Rui Hachimura
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Due to his contract, Rui Hachimura is the Laker who must be traded for Daniel Gafford.
The confetti had barely been cleaned off the floor of Paycom Center in Oklahoma City when the NBA offseason kicked into full gear — or even overdrive, to extend the metaphor — with the 2024 champion Boston Celtics making two stunning trades in rapid succession.
Now, just days later, it may be the Los Angeles Lakers’ turn to make headlines. As unpredictable as the offseason has been so far, there is one sure thing, at least according to CBS Sports analyst Sam Quinn: the Lakers will acquire a center.
The Celtics shocked the basketball world, and succeeded in slipping under the 2023 collective bargaining agreement’s so-called “second apron”, by shedding the contracts of veteran point guard Jrue Holiday and center Kristaps Porzingis — both integral parts of Boston’s 18th NBA championship season, and the team’s 61-win regular season that ended in 2025 — in back-to-back trades Monday and Tuesday.
Actually, the offseason got rolling even before the OKC Thunder raised their first-ever championship trophy. Just hours prior to Game 7 of the NBA Finals tipping off, the Phoenix Suns traded future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.
NBA Draft Up Next on Wednesday
As if those moves were not enough, before NBA observers and insiders can catch their collective breath, the NBA draft opens on Wednesday.
But barring a dramatic trade — admittedly always a possibility — the Lakers do not select until No. 53, deep in the second round, more or less ruling out the addition of an immediately playable center through the draft.
On Monday, it appeared that a major trade target for Los Angeles had been taken off the table when ESPN.com NBA insider Shams Charania reported that the Dallas Mavericks were about to sign their six-year-veteran center Daniel Gafford to a three-year contract extension worth $60 million.
The $60 million figure would have rendered Gafford ineligible to be traded for at least six months after signing. But as it quickly turned out, Charania’s dollar figure was off by $6 million.
In fact, the value of the 26-year-old big man’s new deal was just $54 million, a figure that squeaks under the cutoff of $54.3 million that would have triggered a six-month trade prohibition for Gafford.
To Get Gafford, Hachimura Must Go
According to analyst Maxwell Ogden of the Lakers news site Lake Show Life, Los Angeles now has a “path” to acquiring Gafford that has suddenly become “painfully clear.”
Why painful? Because, Ogden reported on Wednesday, the most likely way to land Gafford would be to swap him for Rui Hachimura, the 26-year-old power forward who has averaged 12.8 points in 27.7 minutes per game over his three seasons since the Lakers acquired him from the Washington Wizards.
“Gafford’s contract equates to an annual average of $18 million per season, starting at an estimated $17,263,584. The Lakers … need to find a way to effectively match that figure in any potential trades,” Ogden wrote.
“That puts Rui Hachimura directly in the conversation as the player whose talent and contract give Los Angeles the best chance at completing a move for Gafford,” according to Ogden.
Hachimura would come to Dallas on an expiring contract worth $18,259,259 in the upcoming season, making his contract a near-match for Gafford’s. In fact, with $4.3 million to go before they hit the first apron, the difference in salaries would increase the Lakers’ flexibility to make additional moves by moving them further away from the first apron threshold, albeit incrementally.
“For a Mavericks team in need of improved play along the wings, Hachimura could address a significant void,” Ogden argued. “He’s a proven player who has thrived alongside Dallas star Anthony Davis and can be plugged in effortlessly as a 3-and-D wing with well-rounded supplemental value.”
Will the Lakers head down this “painfully clear” path? With offseason deals apparently happening fast, their next move could be revealed by the end of this week, or sometime next.