The biggest problem if the Lakers want to trade Jared Vanderbilt

The Los Angeles Lakers they are located in an interesting place in front NBA trade deadlineand Jarred Vanderbilt is a big reason why, but there is reason to believe that it is she probably won’t be movedbased on what executives around the league think it would take to include him in a trade.

“Vanderbilt has three years left on his contract — the kind of long-term money that is trade poison,” wrote Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “Multiple NBA executives believe the cost of including Vanderbilt in a first-round trade means he’s much more valuable to the Lakers as a utility player than he would be as part of a trade where they would have to add assets and essentially overpay for everything.” got it back.”

The The Lakers were waiting to see what they had in Vanderbiltwho is expected to return from injury soon, to determine how he progresses before the NBA trade deadline, according to ClutchPoints. It’s understandable that the Lakers want some sort of data on how their team plays against Vanderbilt before they make the move, but given the amount of time he’s missed due to injury, many believe he shouldn’t affect the team’s actions in the coming weeks. That’s a frustration for many fans, and teams around the league have seen the Lakers as a difficult team to work with for a deal at this point because of their current approach.

Given Vanderbilt’s contract, which has three years remaining, with a player option for the 2027-2028 season. It will be interesting to see how Vanderbilt performs when he returns to the court, as the Lakers will likely depend on him to perform well down the stretch and in a potential playoff run.

LeBron James made it clear that the Lakers have to play near-perfect basketball as currently constructed, so it appears the team wants a move. It will be interesting to see what Los Angeles has up its sleeve in the coming weeks, if nothing else.

Ryan Bologna is a seasoned sportswriter covering NFL, MLB and NCAA basketball for ClutchPoints. He studied journalism and communication at UConn, and has written articles in the New York Sports Nation and the Greenwich Free Press.