After Losing Out On DeMar DeRozan, Lakers Eyeing 2 Key Role Players  

The Los Angeles Lakers came into the 2024 NBA offseason hoping to add a big name. Klay Thompson, Dejounte Murray and DeMar DeRozan were all floated as options.

In the end – all three wound up somewhere else.

Thompson spurned the Lakers in favor of the Dallas Mavericks. Murray okayed a trade to the New Orleans Pelicans. And on Saturday night, DeRozan decided he would prefer to play for the Sacramento Kings.

The Lakers are obviously still being linked to a trade for Lauri Markkanen. Their best trade offer for him is a matter of public record. But given how it stacks up to the Golden State Warriors’ best offer, it is hard to see anything happening there.

With all that in mind, it appears as though L.A. has turned its attention to 2 key role players.

“Gary Trent Jr. and Spencer Dinwiddie are two names to watch for if the Lakers clear enough space to use their taxpayer midlevel exception,” Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported this week.

Trent Jr. averaged nearly 14 points per game while hitting 2.5 three-pointers per game in 2024. Plus, he also chipped in 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per outing. He could immediately address L.A.’s big hole when it comes to shooting.

Dinwiddie, meanwhile, averaged a mere 6.8 points, 2.4 assists and 1.7 rebounds per Game last year over 28 Games while wearing purple and gold. The fact that the Lakers are interested in retaining him speaks more to the team’s ho-hum offseason than anything else.

It will be interesting to see what direction the front office ultimately opts to take over the next few weeks. No matter what, though – it is hard to see any moves made from here on out making a substantial difference to the Lakers’ short-term ability to win Games.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.