The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a stellar start to the 2025-26 season. Prior to their match on Wednesday, they sit with a 17-6 record, which lands them firmly as the No. 2 seed in the stacked Western Conference.
There are very few ‘nights off’ in the NBA, and that is certainly the case in the West. The Lakers are doing well for themselves, and then some, but the question remains: What type of move will they make as the NBA trade deadline slowly approaches?
Despite being the No. 2 seed, it is clear the Lakers need to make a trade, and the right trade, to establish themselves as one of, if not the favorite, in the league. Given how dominant the Oklahoma City Thunder are, that’s some potential, but at worst, the Lakers could be a legitimate contender with a trade.
NBA insider from The Athletic, Sam Vecine, believes the Lakers are ‘a trade away’ from becoming true contenders this season.
“I kinda think the Lakers are a trade away from being genuinely real contenders right now,” Vecenie said. “That’s my real opinion on this, and I don’t even think it has to be a really, truly significant move based off what we’ve seen in the last little while from this group. I just think that they look awesome, you could go through all of the stuff that they’re running, like, Luka [Doncic] with LeBron [James] now in the lineup next to Austin Reaves, it’s really, really, really hard to be able to kind of guard them and deal with them.”
More news:NBA Rivals Considering Steep Trade Price for $59 Million Clippers Star
The Lakers would greatly benefit form a trade, but not just any trade , but the right one. LA needs a player that could be a point of a attack defender, as they’ve been linked to players of that caliber. Players like Herb Jones, Andrew Wiggins and Keon Ellis are a few LA could make a move on.
Los Angeles already has a solid squad, and if they can make marginal upgrades, they could push the Thunder to the brink or possibly knock them out this season.
For all the latest NBA news and rumors, head over toNewsweek Sports.
Newsweek