The Los Angeles Lakers are still not done making trades after they acquired Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks for Anthony Davis, Evan Sidery of Forbes reported.
“The Lakers are aggressively pursuing athletic rim-protecting centers on the trade market,” Sidery wrote on X.
Two names to keep an eye on, Sidery said, are Brooklyn Nets‘ Nic Claxton and Portland Trail Blazers‘ Robert Williams III.
However, the Lakers are working on limited assets after they traded their 2029 first-round picks to the Mavericks and their second-round pick from the Clippers to the Utah Jazz in the Dončić trade. They are now left with one first-round pick in 2031, the top-4 protection of their 2027 first-round pick owed to Utah (in the Russell Westbrook trade) and two pick swaps.
Davis is the Lakers’ best defensive player and he leaves a gaping hole in the middle, which they are frantically trying to plug with just four days left before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
Price Remains High
Claxton would be costly, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst reported on Jan. 17.
“The Nets asking price is high,” one league executive said, referring to both Johnson and Claxton, “and they [have made] it known they don’t feel like they have to trade them now. But if they’re helping them win games, they’ll trade them or put them on the bench,” Bontemps and Windhorst wrote.
The lanky but athletic Claxton is having a down year with the rebuilding Nets. His numbers have dropped since he was a top-9 Defensive Player of the Year candidate two seasons ago when he was still playing with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
During his career year in the 2022-23 season, the 6-foot-11 Claxton averaged 12.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting 70.5% from the field.
Last season, he averaged 11.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 blocks while shooting 62.9% from the field. This season, it plummeted to 9.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while shooting a career-low 54.4% from the field.
Joining a contending team could rejuvenate Claxton, who is only 25 and on the first year of a four-year, $97 million contract. It will take Rui Hachimura ($17 million) and additional salary fillers to get to Claxton’s $27.5 million salary on top of draft capital.
This trade looks bleak for the Lakers. Nets backup center Day’Ron Sharpe ($3.9 million) is a much cheaper option for them.
ClutchPoints reported that the Lakers wanted to include Sharpe in the Dorian Finney-Smith trade, but the Nets demanded more draft picks in compensation. So, they settled with Shake Milton instead.
High-Risk, High-Reward Bet
Robert Williams III is an elite rim protector if he’s healthy. That’s a big IF as he hasn’t played more than 60 games since the 2021-22 season.
Currently, he’s out again with a hand injury. In 17 games, including three starts this season, Williams averaged 5.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in just 17.3 minutes. His per-36 minutes stats — 12.0 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks — paint him as a double-double shot-blocking machine.
But he’s too risky of a bet for the Lakers at this point. And they only have one more second-round pick left which might not be enough to get him from Portland.
Hoopshype’s Michael Scotto reported on Jan. 16 that he and Jonas Valančiūnas, the Lakers’ previously reported other target, “are expected to command multiple second-round picks,” according to various NBA executives.
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