The Los Angeles Lakers are always an intriguing watch in the lead into the NBA trade deadline — they’re the Los Angeles Lakers.

But now more than ever.

Just like last year, the Lakers’ deadline decisions are even more fascinating given the team’s lacklustre 22-23 season despite being built to win now with the evergreen LeBron James still dominant at age 39 alongside co-star Anthony Davis at the peak of his powers.

Watch an average of 9 NBA Regular Season games per week LIVE on ESPN, available via Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

This season isn’t quite as dire as last, when LA was near dysfunctional and had a Russell Westbrook headache, needing to completely retool its roster … which it did subliminally to help charge Darvin Ham’s team all the way to the conference finals.

But still, the clock is ticking on the Lakers arguably more urgently than any other side, with James’ championship window shrinking. Other contenders have already made moves — even if they’ve predominantly been Eastern Conference teams — to take some of the biggest names off the market.

They include OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Terry Rozier, with Rozier a player who’s previously been linked to Lakers and would’ve made a lot of sense to help their offensive woes and bolster their outside shooting.

In saying that, there’s been no shortage of other names LA has reportedly had interest in at some stage in recent times — from stars like Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan to the likes of Colin Sexton, Tyson Jones and 2020 championship Laker Alex Caruso as well as fellow ex-Laker Dennis Schroder.

It’s clear the Lakers realise they need to upgrade their talent to contend and have been aggressively pursuing targets to, in some shape or form, make a move ahead of the February 9 trade deadline.

After all, any team with LeBron James is in win-now mode every single season and should be busy in trying to put the best possible talent around him, while Rob Pelinka has historically been an active general manager who’s made moves every deadline.

So who’s the most realistic targets and what type of move/s could we expect? What challenges do they face and why does LeBron James’ future – and his son’s – loom large? Below foxsports.com.au breaks it all down.

POTENTIAL DEADLINE MOVES

Two players they’ve zeroed in on, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, are Bruce Brown and Dejounte Murray.

`

In Brown’s case, the flexible guard was recently moved from Indiana to the Raptors and now looms as one of the big trade watches for playoff sides trying to add a final piece to the puzzle. The Lakers were one of the favourites to sign Brown as a free agent last off-season after his title run with Denver before Indiana tabled him a juicy two-year, $45 million deal that dwarfed all other offers.

As for Murray, who would cost more in a deal as a riskier play and give the Lakers less long-term flexibility, LA has reportedly already discussed a trade with Atlanta involving D’Angelo Russell. Talks broke down after the Hawks wanted to find a third team for Russell instead of acquiring him, but are expected to be picked up again, with the Lakers viewed as the team most seriously pursuing Murray.

Both Brown and Murray are being widely courted throughout the league though in what will ultimately turn into an NBA bidding war of which team can offer the best package.

In terms of what the Lakers could dangle, Russell, despite strong play in recent weeks, is considered the most likely candidate to be dealt for a high-calibre player to make salaries match (he signed a two-year, $36 million contract last off-season).

Rui Hachimura is another name reports have said could be on the trading black, while opposition teams have asked the question of Austin Reaves, but the Lakers haven’t been willing to put him on the table.

Otherwise, LA’s movable first-round picks (2029 or 2030), its array of pick swaps (2026, 2028, 2029 and 2030) and four second-round picks are other currency they can use.

“They’ve already come to the conclusion they need to do something with the roster, if they can find something,” NBA journalist Brian Windhorst said of the Lakers on ESPN’s NBA Today this week.

“It has helped immensely over the last week and a half D’Angelo Russell has broken out of his slump and looked very good. They are a different team when he is so offensively involved. The thing is, it’s hard to count on him, he’s been up and down across his career.

“If they can acquire a player who can play at both ends of the court who’s multi dimensional and doesn’t have a contract that potentially burdens them – like Zach LaVine – then I think the Lakers will be in it and try to find that mix and match.

“That is what I expect Rob Pelinka has been spending a lot of time on recently and will spend these next two weeks doing. Last year he was successful in doing it and he had to do a full team remake, he may not need to do that.

“He may just be able to make a tweak here and really supercharge the Lakers for the second half of the season.”

ROSTER CHALLENGES

As nice as it is to have dream targets — and as fun as it is to come up with hypothetical moves — the NBA’s new CBA makes it hard and in some ways unwise to have two supermax contracts like the Lakers do with James and Davis.

Not only does it make it extremely difficult to fit another star into the team, but also puts a strangle on filling out the rest of the roster with a strong supporting cast and heightens the importance of nailing budget contracts.

In LA’s case, James (paid $47 million this season) and Davis ($40 million) make up for $87 million of the team’s total $166 million payroll — which already has the franchise $44 million over the salary cap and right on the luxury tax threshold.

Throw in the deals of Russell ($17 million), Hachimura ($15 million) Reaves ($12 million) and Gabe Vincent ($10 million) and the Lakers have approximately $23 million to fill out the NBA’s other mandatory eight roster spots to get to 14 before they’d go over the tax line and be subject to fines and other potential penalties.

Remember, the NBA is ultimately and business – and team owners are in the business to make money.

The Lakers faced an even tougher predicament last season when they had James, Davis and Westbrook making approximately $128 million combined, with just that trio alone already taking them over the salary cap.

Having so much money tied up to a select few names can really backfire when there’s other problems that arise on the roster that need to be addressed, as we’ve seen with LA.

It’s why you can understand the Lakers would be hesitant to bring in LaVine’s monster contract — owed over $176 million until the 2026/2027 season – given how much it could handicap them, with LA’s’ interest in the 28-year old two-time All-Star guard having reportedly cooled.

“They’re paying two max guys a combo of like $100 million a year when there’s a salary cap,” NBA analyst Bill Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast earlier this month.

“It’s really hard to have three guys (on super max deals) … so you’re going to have to hit on the fringes and you’re going to have some floor guys. You’re not going to end up with Kyrie Irving, you’re going to end up with D’Angelo Russell – that’s the way it goes when you’re paying two $50 million guys.”

Despite the ongoing talk the Lakers need to add more shooting around James, Simmons was critical of the way the team in recent years has let go some of the game’s best shooters — the very thing they now need — and otherwise role players.

“They had shooting around LeBron,” Simmons pointed out. “(Malik) Beasley is (shooting) 48 per cent from three this year – he’s second in the league – he’s making three a game. He was wasting away on their bench last year. They had Caruso, he’s at 41.5 per cent, they let him go. KCP (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope), they traded him for f***ing Russell Westbrook, he’s at 40.7 per cent threes this year.

“They had Malik Monk – he’s (now) one of the best sixth men in the league – they had an unhappy season with him and then he went to Sacramento and was immediately good.

“Maybe we’re not asking the right questions. If these shooters are going on to thrive outside of LA, why is that? What’s going on? Is it hard to play in the fishbowl of the Lakers? Is it hard to play with AD (Davis) and LeBron, where it’s their team and everybody else are these interchangeable dudes that end up in trade rumours the minute things go wrong.

“I don’t think it’s LeBron’s fault, but it’s the fishbowl he brings, some guys don’t play that well in it. Then you’re always looking at glass half empty instead of glass half full.

“This team has good shooters … what are they doing wrong I think is a more interesting question than what they need.”

LEBRON’S FUTURE … AND THE BRONNY FACTOR

Looming large over the Lakers’ plans is LeBron James’ potential impending free agency status.

LeBron has a player option for his $51 million contract next season — a season when his son, Bronny, can opt out of college – where he’s currently a freshman at USC – to declare for the 2024 NBA draft.

That’s no coincidence.

It gives LeBron an option to, in theory, opt out of his Lakers contract for 2024/25 and sign with the team that drafts Bronny — or somehow manoeuvre a way for LA to land the legend’s son.

“I think this is all about Bronny,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne told NBA Today this week.

“LeBron has given the Lakers every indication he wants to be in LA long term, this is the only time he’s given himself an out after a year and it’s because his son could potentially declare for the draft.

“It’ll be incumbent on the Lakers if (Bronny) is in the draft. You can see it already, you can feel draft night already.”

What once seemed like an outlandish dream of LeBron, now 39, saying he’d like to one day play with Bronny, 19, is now a genuine reality. However, as sentimental and romantic as that is, now that it’s become real, it’s opened up a host of practical queries.

For one, James, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, might need to take a significant pay cut at another team and/or only be able to go to certain teams that have least some sort of cap space.

Even for someone who’s made as much money over his career as LeBron, that’s a big sacrifice to make, particularly given he’d still command mega dollars on the open market. Of course, it’s no secret LeBron has plans to one day own his own NBA franchise too in a multi-billion dollar market.

Then there’s the unavoidable discord of LeBron, in the twilight of his career and trying to win more rings, and the Bronny, still in development mode and trying to carve out his own name, being on completely different timelines — or having “diametrically opposed” pathways, according to former WNBA Chiney Ogwumike.

It could compromise both players’ seasons, namely an emerging Bronny trying to write his own story.

Would Bronny be better served spreading his wings and focusing on his own career on his own team without the constant sideshow that’d surround the father-son duo? If Bronny did land at the Lakers, would he even get opportunities on a franchise that exists to win championships?

Could they instead explore teaming up a few years down the track when Bronny has learned the NBA ropes and LeBron’s game has declined to the point where he’s no longer the centrepiece of a contender? That would of course be a gamble given the unknown surrounding Bronny’s future standing in the NBA, and LeBron, despite freakishly defying father time up until now, approaching his 40s.

They’d ultimately need the planets to align for them to team up — and they could instead be content with playing against each other for the betterment of both of their long-term futures.

There’s also no guarantee Bronny declares for the 2024 NBA Draft, but he was considered a top-30 recruit entering the college ranks this season.

A 6-foot-4 guard, Bronny has averaged 5.9 points in 19.6 minutes from 11 games for USC on 38 per cent shooting from the field including 25 per cent from three-point range — with his inconsistent outside stroke one of the key knocks on his game.

“There’s two ways to look at that – trying to get (Bronny) drafted by the Lakers. Or is there a situation for a young player going to a team more of a developmental team?,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski told NBA Today this week.

“The Lakers are not a developmental program, they’re in a win-now program. So what’s going to be best for Bronny James? I don’t know if it’s as cut and dry as all of it around the idea of whether (LeBron) can play with (Bronny) or not.

“I’m not sure that’s all that’s at stake here, maybe it’s a factor. I do think for Bronny James, if he’s out (of college) this year, the idea of what’s the best place for him (is a factor) too.

“This is a wild draft this year, there is not a real clear cut consensus (top pick) as much of anything. If some other team wants to draft Bronny James, there’s no stopping them, it’s really hard to control that process.”

The LeBron-Bronny narrative — along with what’s considered one of the weakest NBA drafts in some time — led to an interesting debate on the Mismatch Podcast earlier this month where Chris Vernon posed an intriguing question to co-host Kevin O’Connor.

“If I told you – if you got the No. 1 pick and you took Bronny James it would guarantee you LeBron would sign with you next year, is that worth tanking like (it would be) tanking for the next great thing?,” Vernon put to O’Connor.

Again, this is a draft that doesn’t have a Victor Wembanyama, Paolo Banchero, Anthony Edwards or Zion Williamson-type talent waiting in the wings for that lucky franchise that lands the opening selection.

O’Connor was however firm that taking a punt on a Bronny-LeBron coup over a legitimate top prospect, no matter the current projections, would be an “absurd” move.

“LeBron has just turned 39. How long are you going to have him for? O’Connor said. “I love the fact (LeBron) is a supportive and loving father. At the same time, I hope it doesn’t raise expectations for Bronny so much that it becomes a disappointment and backlash for him if he doesn’t meet any of those expectations.

“(Bronny is) not a good three-point shooter right now at USC … he’s been a sub 70 per cent free throw shooter going back to high school. He just might not have shooting touch, but maybe it’ll develop over time. I just have concerns with him being an NBA guy unless the jumper gets better.

“I’d rather roll the dice with an 18 or 19-year old player who’s hopefully with your team for eight, 10 or 15 years, than LeBron, who could ask out after a year, retire after two years or decline after three years.

“To me, the upside on that is so much lower in that than what the No. 1 pick is, or trading down from that pick or trading it for another established player.”

Despite this, O’Connor flagged that, if the Lakers’ woes continue, it’s not implausible for such a scenario to play out where LeBron offers his services to whichever teams drafts Bronny.

He named Philadelphia as the team to “watch” given the Sixers are the only true contender currently projected to have max contract space next off-season – after taking on several expiring deals in the James Harden trade – and a draft pick that’d be in the Bronny hitting zone.

Though Philly could yet make a move by the trade deadline to change that, the Joel Embiid-led franchise is currently projected to have $74 million cap space for the 2024/25 season, according to Spotrac, with only Detroit ($77 million cap space) positioned to have more.

After Detroit and Philadelphia, the teams currently projected to have the most cap space are Orlando ($62 million), Charlotte ($53 million), Utah ($52 million) and Toronto ($47 million).

The Sixers do of course need to sign breakout star Tyrese Maxey to an upgraded extension still, but if they do that after acquiring a big-name free agent, it doesn’t affect their books for next season – hence why he wasn’t re-signed last off-season.

Plus, Philadelphia general manager Darryl Morey, renowned for making blockbuster moves and targeting the NBA’s biggest superstar, is pulling the strings.

“You never know, what if this becomes a thing? What if the Lakers completely implode? What if they miss the playoffs? Which isn’t off the table,” O’Connor noted.

“LeBron decides to opt out and puts it out there: ‘I will go to your team if you draft Bronny in the lottery’. That would be amazing.

“The Sixers are the team to watch there because they have a first-round pick in the 20s, they have cap space and they need another ball handler. I’m not kidding you … they’re the team to watch there.”