Jarred Vanderbilt makes too much money. For a team that needs every dollar to count for next season, that is a massive problem for the Los Angeles Lakers. It really only comes with one solution: send Vando out of town.
Vanderbilt has his moments. The Lakers forward is still a strong energy guy, solid on the glass and on defense. However, with his strengths not at strong as they used to be, the weaknesses start to stick out much more. For Vando, that naturally comes with discussing his offensive game.
Scoring the ball is not something that Vanderbilt has ever been able to hang his hat on throughout his NBA career. A respectable 3-point shot never truly developed, and his ability to make shots inside is not consistent enough to move the needle for justifying playing time.
JJ Redick did feature Vanderbilt a fair bit throughout the 2025-26 season. Vando played 17.4 minutes a night in the 65 games he appeared in. That speaks more to the depth issues in Los Angeles than his effectiveness. Solving those problems will require the Lakers ridding themselves of the $25-plus million left on Vanderbilt's two remaining years under contract.
A Jarred Vanderbilt trade is long overdue for the Lakers
Vanderbilt's production in 2025-26 did not match someone who has an average salary of $12 million on his deal. The money owed to the athletic forward is keeping the Lakers from meaningfully using that portion of their cap on more reliable contributors.
Luckily for the Lakers, a potential suitor absorbing his deal is much easier now, with only two years left, than it would have been previously. This is the offseason in which Rob Pelinka must own up to the rapid deterioration in value of that contract.
This comes with one of two potential solutions for the Lakers to jumpstart their offseason.
The first option could be using a first-round pick to dump Vanderbilt to a rebuilding team and simply add the $12.4 million he would be owed in 2026-27 to the looming cap space for free agency. That would allow the Lakers to potentially sign multiple role players with that money.
The other option would be to use Vanderbilt, and possibly one of the other guaranteed contracts still on the books, to pivot into finding a better-fitting contributor (or two) via trade. First-round draft capital is still a part of the equation here, too, but this time there are actual known players coming back in the deal.
Whichever one of those options Pelinka and company find more favorable should call for that push. Vanderbilt had his highs during his time with the Lakers. At this stage, his deal is just eating away at the much-needed wiggle room for Los Angeles to make real upgrades to the roster.
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