The Los Angeles Lakers did not add any help at the 2023 trade deadline as the team potentially prepares to make a bigger trade in the offseason. While the Lakers may not have added any help at the deadline, there are more opportunities to improve this season.
With 14 rostered players, the Lakers have the space to make a buyout signing without any moving parts. With this year's buyout market potentially being dense, the Lakers could even cut ties with existing players on the roster to add help.
Los Angeles has not played well this season so the team may need all the help it can get. Buyout signings won't be the difference between winning a title and losing, but they could help the Lakers at least make the playoffs in the first place to have a chance of going on a run.
5 buyout targets the Lakers must consider signing:
Spencer Dinwiddie
Spencer Dinwiddie is the most obvious Lakers buyout target as he was already connected to the team in the trade market. There was some buzz that the Lakers could flip D'Angelo Russell for Dinwiddie but that ultimately did not happen as the Nets swapped Dinwiddie for Dennis Schroder instead.
Dinwiddie was waived by the Raptors and now makes sense as a Lakers target. Los Angeles can get the best of both worlds with Russell and Dinwiddie on the roster, even if both players do have concerning aspects of their game.
At the very least, Dinwiddie would give the Lakers Russell insurance in case he decides not to show up in the playoffs again. In the best-case scenario, Dinwiddie fits in nicely as the bench point guard who can lead the second unit with his scoring.