Lakers Trade Rumors: Not Expected To Pursue Nikola Vucevic Or Jakob Poeltl
01/27/2025 02:10 PM
The NBA trade deadline is getting closer and many continue to watch the Los Angeles Lakers in expectation of any potential moves the team could make. The team has been known to desire adding another big man since before the season started and Anthony Davis’ recent comments only furthered that belief that the Lakers are in the market for a center.
There have been multiple names mentioned as possibilities and two that would certainly make sense would be Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and Toronto Raptors big man Jakob Poeltl. Both would be great additions that would fit in well next to Davis on the Lakers, but as the deadline nears, it sounds as if neither will be joining the purple and gold.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Lakers are not expected to pursue either Vucevic or Poeltl as the asking price and salaries for both are too high:
Yet league sources stressed over the weekend that the Lakers are not expected to join the hunt for either Vučević or Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl … while oft-suggested Lakers target Walter Kessler of the Utah Jazz is believed to as close to unavailable as it gets with less than 10 days to go before the trade deadline on Feb. 6 at 3 PM ET.
Adding Vučević would be very pricey for the Lakers beyond Chicago’s desire to extract a first-round pick in return; absorbing the $21.5 million owed to Vučević in 2025-26 is daunting financially for a team that projects to have Davis and LeBron James taking up two-thirds of next season’s salary cap and has strained to stay below the second apron this season.
Poeltl, meanwhile, is a similar case, with a $19.5 million salary looming in both 2025-26 and 2026-27 (player option) and the Raptors believed to be seeking an even richer return than Chicago has sought for Vučević to part with a player many teams believe that Toronto would prefer to keep.
As Stein noted, the financial implications play a role as taking on that kind of money for future seasons is something the Lakers would prefer not to do as well. But giving up a first-round pick, and perhaps even more in the case of Poeltl, along with the players needed to match salaries, seems to be too much for the Lakers.
If the Lakers are going to give up those first-round picks in a trade they want it to be a move that will make them a true championship contender. For as good as Vucevic and Poeltl are, it is difficult to argue that acquiring one of them on their own will do that for the Lakers.
LeBron James: Jarred Vanderbilt ‘didn’t miss a beat’ in Lakers return
It is unclear whether the Lakers will make a big acquisition before the trade deadline, but the team did welcome back one of its most important role players from injury in defensive ace Jarred Vanderbilt in their win over the Golden State Warriors.
Vanderbilt only played 12 minutes as he gets his conditioning back, but picked up three steals in that time and LeBron James said the forward ‘didn’t miss a beat’ in his return. LeBron added that the Lakers missed him and were happy to have him back in the lineup.
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