The Los Angeles Lakers have spent the 2024 NBA offseason keeping everything the same as it was. It's a questionable strategy after losing in first round of the playoffs, but outside of hiring JJ Redick and drafting Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, the roster has remained intact.
As Lakers fans await a highly-anticipated trade, recent rumors may have answered the question of why one hasn't happened yet.
Perhaps the most prominent name on the trade market at this stage of the offseason is Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen. The 2023 Most Improved Player award-winner is entering the final season of his current deal and is thus expected to be moved this summer.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Golden State Warriors have been the most interested team in acquiring Markkanen, but the asking price has been too steep.
"The Golden State Warriors have been the most engaged team for Markkanen in recent weeks, as league sources tell The Athletic they have discussed a proposal around Moses Moody, multiple first-round picks, multiple pick swaps and multiple second-round picks. The Jazz, however, have asked for the bulk of young talent and capital the Warriors possess, including Moody, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, along with picks, which has been a non-starter thus far for Golden State, league sources said."
That may not directly impact the Lakers, but the asking price for Markkanen could offer insight into why general manager Rob Pelinka has yet to execute a trade this summer.
Asking price for Lauri Markkanen shows why Lakers reluctant to trade
A trade for Markkanen would reportedly cost the Warriors perhaps their three most important young building-blocks in Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and Brandin Podziemski. That would just be the start of the negotiations, however, as first-round draft picks would also need to be included.
Translating that to Lakers terms, the deal would likely cost a package centered around Austin Reaves, multiple first-round draft picks, and at least two other young players who Utah decides could be of value to them.
Clearly, this is just what one player is commanding on the open market—or perhaps not. Earlier this summer, Mikal Bridges was traded to the New York Knicks for the cost of six first-round draft picks, with the Brooklyn Nets also receiving Bojan Bogdanovic.
Suddenly, the Minnesota Timberwolves shipping out Walker Kessler and four first-round draft picks for Rudy Gobert looks less like a gamble and more like the beginning of the new norm.
Los Angeles has draft assets that it can ship out, but it's possible that teams' asking prices are simply too high to justify at this stage. If Bridges and Markkanen, who have a combined one All-Star Game appearance, are commanding astronomical asking prices, what would a deal for an All-NBA player look like?
One shutters at the thought of what the Lakers would have to give up, especially when considering a 40-year-old LeBron James and 31-year-old Anthony Davis could be all that's left.
That's no slight against Davis and James, who have won a championship together and reached the Western Conference Finals as recently as 2023. Instead, it's an acknowledgment of how little margin for error there is in building around just two or three players in an era that's emphasizing depth again.
Based on what Utah is asking for and what Brooklyn already managed to net, it's become easier to understand why Pelinka and the Lakers have remained patient on the trade front.
Perhaps it's more logical than impatiently inquiring minds might think.