Dream Lakers 2026 NBA Trade Deadline to Help Luka Doncic, LeBron James

in 2026 NBA trade deadline it is now a little over two weeks, and Los Angeles Lakers fans are waiting to see what, if any, moves the team will make. However, one of the main issues, which has been well documented recently, is The Lakers have no attractive trade assets. On that note, the Lakers are projected to have plenty of cap space for the 2026 and 2027 offseasons and are therefore reportedly reluctant to impact that with trades that don’t entirely move the needle.

But what is painfully obvious is that this current Lakers roster is still not good enough to seriously contend for a championship this season. When healthy, they are an upper-echelon team in the Western Conference, good enough to grab a top-four seed similar to last season.

Additionally, in order to make a solid playoff run, this roster will need upgrades, especially on the defensive end of the field.

There is a path for the Lakers to add defensive help at the trade deadline, but that would require things to break down properly, which is why this is framed as the ultimate dream scenario.

The Lakers trade for Herb Jones or Trey Murphy III

It was previously reported that The Lakers are interested in New Orleans Pelicans wings, especially Herb Jones. There are only two problems with that. The first is that the Pelicans are reportedly not putting one on the market before the NBA trade deadline, and the second is that even if they did, the Lakers they have no property for what is sure to be a very high asking price.

The Lakers are reportedly not interested in recouping long-term money at the trade deadline as they try to preserve what is expected to be ample cap space in the coming offseasons. However, either Jones or Murphy is a move that certainly moves the needle and would potentially be worth sacrificing some of that financial flexibility.

In a perfect world, the Lakers could acquire one of the Pelicans’ wings with the current assets they have. The first part of the dream scenario would be for the Pelicans to settle for a rebuild and decide to shed their long-term contracts. The other part would be the Pelicans taking what the Lakers have to offer.

Again, this is a dream scenario, not a realistic scenario. And for the Lakers, the dream deal for Jones would be one of their expiring deals with either Gabe Vincent, Jared Vanderbilt or Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht and the Lakers’ first-round pick in 2031. That scenario would work under the cap.

When it comes to Murphy, who has a bigger contract than Jones, the dream deal for the Lakers would be two of the aforementioned expiring contracts, Knecht, and a first-round pick in 2031. Again, it’s working under the cap.

In both scenarios, the Lakers send more players than they receive. That allows them to convert one of their two-way contracts like they did with Jordan Goodwin last season. Both Nick Smith Jr. and Drew Thiem played key roles on the team at times. They could also choose to sign Kobe Bufkin for the remainder of the season. Or they could search the waiver notice after the deadline and maybe add some cheap help.

Both scenarios also give Knecht a fresh start with a rebuilding team, and most importantly, both scenarios don’t involve giving up Rui Hachimura, allowing the Lakers to bolster their bench depth, which has been a concern at times. Either Jones or Murphy would likely step into Hachimura’s starting spot.

But again, both teams have to agree on a trade that makes sense for both teams. Lakers fans are probably a little jaded in that aspect, seeing as how the Luka Doncic trade made absolutely no sense from the Dallas Mavericks’ point of view. It is incredibly unrealistic to assume that another front office will make the same mistake.

And in the end, one first-round pick won’t work out for either Jones or Murphy. And the Lakers only have a 2031 or 2032 first-rounder available at this deadline. There’s also the fact that the Lakers’ future first-round picks have lost value due to Doncic’s arrival and the team’s desire to contend.

But the purpose of this article is to envision what a dream NBA trade deadline scenario would look like for the Lakers, and the aforementioned trade proposals would be just that.