The 2026 NBA trade deadline is now a little over two weeks away, and Los Angeles Lakers fans await to see what, if any, moves the team will make. One of the main issues though, that’s been well-documented as of late, is the Lakers’ lack of attractive trade assets. And on a related note, the Lakers are projected to have ample cap space for the 2026 and 2027 offseasons, and thus are reportedly hesitant to affect that with trades that don’t completely move the needle.
But what has been painfully obvious is that this current Lakers roster is not yet good enough to seriously contend for a championship this season. When healthy, they’re an upper-echelon team in the Western Conference, good enough to grab a top-four seed similar to last season.
Beyond that, to make a sustained playoff run, this roster is going to need upgrades, especially on the defensive end of the court.
There is a pathway for the Lakers to add defensive help at the trade deadline, but that would require things to break right, which is why this is framed as the ultimate dream scenario.
Lakers trade for either Herb Jones or Trey Murphy III
It’s been reported before that the Lakers have interest in the New Orleans Pelicans’ wings, especially Herb Jones. There’s only two problems with that. The first being that the Pelicans supposedly are not putting either on the market ahead of the NBA trade deadline, and the second being that even if they did, the Lakers don’t have the assets for what is sure to be a very high asking price.
The Lakers reportedly are not interested in taking back long-term money at the trade deadline as they are trying to preserve what’s expected to be ample cap space in the coming offseasons. However, either Jones or Murphy is a move that certainly moves the needle, and would potentially be worth sacrificing some of that financial flexibility.
In a perfect world, the Lakers would be able to acquire one of the Pelicans’ wings with the current assets they have. The first part of the dream scenario would be the Pelicans resigning themselves to a rebuild and opting to jettison their long-term contracts. The second part would be the Pelicans accepting what the Lakers have to offer.
Again, this is the dream scenario and not the realistic scenario. And for the Lakers, the dream deal for Jones would be one of their expiring contracts of either Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt or Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht and the Lakers 2031 first-round pick. That scenario would work under the cap.
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When it comes to Murphy, who has a bigger contract than Jones, the dream deal for the Lakers would be two of the aforementioned expiring contracts, Knecht, and the 2031 first-round pick. Again, that works under the cap.
In both scenarios, the Lakers are sending out more players than they receive. That allows them to convert one of their two-way contracts as they did with Jordan Goodwin last season. Both Nick Smith Jr. and Drew Timme have played key roles for the team at times. They could also choose to sign Kobe Bufkin for the rest of the season. Or they could scour the waiver-wire after the deadline and perhaps add inexpensive help.
Both scenarios also give Knecht a fresh start with a rebuilding team, and most importantly, both scenarios don’t involve giving up Rui Hachimura, allowing the Lakers to strengthen their bench depth which has been a concern at times. Either Jones or Murphy would presumably step into Hachimura’s starting forward spot.
But again, a trade has to be agreed upon by both teams, and has to make sense for both teams. Lakers fans are probably a little jaded in that aspect seeing as how the Luka Doncic trade made absolutely zero sense from the Dallas Mavericks’ point of view. It’s incredibly unrealistic to assume another front office will make the same mistake.
And lastly, one first-round pick is not going to get it done for either Jones or Murphy. And the Lakers only have either their 2031 or 2032 first-rounder at their disposal this deadline. There’s also the fact that the Lakers’ future first-round picks have lost some of their value due to the arrival of Doncic and the team’s desire to contend.
But the purpose of this article is to envision what a dream NBA trade deadline scenario would look like for the Lakers, and the above-mentioned trade suggestions would be exactly that.