The Los Angeles Lakers have shaken the entire NBA up by making a blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks. While they lost Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and their 2029 first-round pick, they gained arguably the most impactful offensive guard in the last five years of the NBA. What's more baffling is that Doncic is a 25-year-old in the prime of his career. The Lakers now have a future to build around after LeBron James retires.
The Lakers are poorly constructed right now but have the increased latitude to make major moves now that the team has a definite long-term direction. All the trade assets that were off limits for months will be back in play, as the Lakers are now building for the Luka Doncic win-now timeline and not the one with LeBron. They still will rely on LeBron to be a high-level No. 2, but they need the right pieces for it to work.
No Anthony Davis means the Lakers have absolutely no competent centers on the rotation. Luka Doncic proved with the Mavericks he's at his best with centers, so the Lakers need to aggressively push for this center trade with the Brooklyn Nets.
Trade Details
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Nicolas Claxton
Brooklyn Nets Receive: Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, 20231 First-Round Pick Swap (LAL)
Now that the Lakers have Doncic, their No. 1 center target should be Nicolas Claxton. They need to get over their pursuit of Walker Kessler and find a mobile big man like Claxton who can not only protect the rim but catch lobs and run the floor. Both LeBron and Luka are built to maximize a center like Claxton, so his addition alone could make the Lakers the new favorites in the West.
Lakers Land The Perfect Big
If you look at the new-look Lakers roster, the only thing you can question about it is the lack of a big man. While they definitely need to add a POA defender into their starting five, their center rotation has been laughably bad. Anthony Davis was begging so hard to have another center on the roster that the Lakers sent him to a team with two elite big men already who thrived playing with Doncic.
Instead of relying on Jaxson Hayes or Doncic's former teammate Christian Wood, the Lakers need to run after Claxton. He's averaging 9.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and 1.2 blocks this season. His numbers have gone down since the Nets stopped being a winning franchise, as he was thriving in his role as a dutiful center trying to maximize the impact of the stars around him.
Claxton had his best years with James Harden as his point guard, so it's safe to assume that both Doncic and LeBron are capable of unlocking his potential now that he's even more seasoned. He's just a winning player on a bad team, which makes his statistics look horrible, but this is easily the perfect move for the Lakers.
Nikola Vucevic and Walker Kessler are too slow-footed while John Collins is too bad defensively. Claxton might be the perfect fit stylistically for the Lakers right now.
The Nets Continue Reshaping Their Roster
The Brooklyn Nets have made it abundantly clear that they're in rebuild mode after the trades they've made this season. They even traded Dorian Finney-Smith to LA in December, and now could send their starting center to the LA-based franchise for a pretty juicy asset.
The only reason the Nets agree to this package is if they share the Mavericks' sentiment that Doncic's health has reached a point where he's too fat to be good defensively and can't be a reliable franchise cornerstone. If that happens, the Lakers' 2031 pick might carry a lot of value. Outside of that, they will hope to flip incoming players for additional assets by next offseason.
Rui Hachimura is averaging 12.7 points and 5.1 rebounds this season while Gabe Vincent is averaging 5.0 points. Both players have expiring contracts in 2026, ensuring the Nets retain cap flexibility if needed while also being able to trade them to contending franchises as win-now expiring contracts for additional assets.
Lakers Start Building Their New Generation Squad
We've entered a new era of Lakers basketball which will be defined by Luka Doncic. The franchise is completely dependent on him living up to the incredible potential he's been traded with. To ensure that happens, the Lakers need to surround Doncic with complementary talent. There's no other center that fits the Lakers any better than Claxton, as he also might be available.
With forwards like Dorian Finney-Smith and Jarred Vanderbilt still, on the roster, the Lakers need just one additional move with Claxton to put together one of the best eight to nine-man rotations in the NBA. Doncic has carried far-less talented cores to more success with the Mavericks, so it's imperative the Lakers do this to ensure Luka's success in LA.
