The Lakers almost traded Dalton Knecht last season, so he's likely to be a trade chip still, and the same goes for Rui Hachimura, who's played well but whose contract makes him a likely candidate to be traded for salary-matching purposes.

This article was originally published on fansided.com as Rob Pelinka's big plan for the Lakers will only alienate LeBron James. The Los Angeles Lakers and GM Rob Pelinka are making one of the riskiest moves of this year’s free agency: punting on immediate roster upgrades in favor of preserving salary cap flexibility for the 2026–27 offseason.

Throughout the course of the NBA offseason thus far, the future of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has become very cloudy. While he decided to pick up his $52.6 million player option to remain with the team,