What a world. The Los Angeles Lakers are sitting tight in Hollywood without making a sound while other teams are being forced to attach assets for players who could help the franchise in the immediate future. Not familiar with what just happened? Let's get up to speed.
Shams Charania reported: "The Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors have agreed on a multi-team trade sending Chris Paul to the Raptors and Ochai Agbaji, a 2032 Raptors second-rounder and cash to the Nets, sources tell ESPN."
Now, let's make sense of this. The Raptors added a second-round pick to Agbaji for the Nets to take on his contract and duck the tax. They even absorbed CP3 in the process, who is expected to get bought out by Toronto before even making it across the US-Canada border.
Sources: Brooklyn Nets receiving $3.5 million from Los Angeles Clippers in the three-team trade involving Chris Paul and Toronto Raptors. CP3 is expected to be waived.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 4, 2026
Agbaji is making only $6.4 million this season. The former Raptor is in the final year of his contract, which would have allowed the Lakers to maintain their financial flexibility. Was there truly no way and no desire for Los Angeles to squeeze into this deal and reroute the two-way wing to their team?
Lakers failed to seize an obvious trade opportunity with Ochai Agbaji
No one is going to characterize Agbaji as a huge needle mover. However, if the Lakers were going to stick to fringe roster moves, this was the type of trade that was well within their ballpark. They just didn't want it.
Agbaji is not having a great 2025-26 season. The former Raptors wing is averaging only 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per game. He has fallen out of favor among a stacked rotation at his position in Toronto.
Perhaps it was the rough head-to-head when the Raptors played the Lakers that left a rough impression on Rob Pelinka and company. Abaji had a brutal night offensively. That has been a recurring theme during this campaign.
However, this is the same guy that had a stellar season in 2024-25, averaging 10.4 points per game and shooting 39.9 percent from beyond the arc. For the low price of what Agbaji got traded for, the Lakers should have been able to afford taking a chance on him recapturing some spark with them.
If these are the type of moves that Los Angeles is letting pass them by, it may be time to accept the Lakers may not do anything at all. There's still time for that to change, but the prognosis is not one of optimism.