The NBA Trade Deadline has now passed and, other than waiving a player to add a last minute surprise buyout candidate, the Lakers now have their complete 15-player roster for the regular season stretch run and playoffs.

Despite delaying their roster makeover until next summer when they’ll have 3 tradable first round picks and $60 million in cap space, the Lakers still need to finish this season strong to save Pelinka’s and Redick’s jobs. Right now, the Lakers are 33–21, #5 seed in the West, and #9 team in the league. To survive this gap year, the Lakers will need to revamp their starting and bench lineups to better optimize and balance their talent.

Pelinka and Redick face difficult situations as they were not hired by Mark Walter and only have the rest of the season and the playoffs to show they deserve to still be in charge for next summer’s extreme roster makeover.
Since landing Luka, Pelinka has wasted 2 trade deadlines and 1 offseason without adding an established starter. Meanwhile, Redick has done a good job in the regular season but needs to prove he can win in the playoffs.

The only solution to salvage this situation is to replace the current no-defense Big Three starting lineup that has a negative net rating and the current inefficient no-offense bench that ranks #30 in points per game.
Instead of a star-studded starting lineup and weak bench, the Lakers must listen to the data, which says they can build two elite balanced data-driven 5-man lineups, one around Luka and Austin and a second around LeBron.

Let’s review the Lakers’ 15-man roster for regular season stretch run and playoffs and see what the numbers say are the team’s best options to build an elite competitive starting lineup and rotation to salvage this gap year.

WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?

…

Despite expectations they would be an offensive juggernaut, the numbers say the Lakers’ Big Three of Doncic, Reaves, and James has been a major disappointment, recording a -9.6 net rating in 10 games and 152 minutes.

The harsh reality is starting Luka, Austin, and LeBron together is not a winning strategy. Playing three offense-first stars who need the ball in their hands to excel is both redundant and doomed to be horrible defensively.
The above chart not only says LeBron is not a good fit playing next to Luka and Austin but also that he and Luka or he and Austin can’t win the minutes they’re on the court together as a duo. Lakers are losing LeBron minutes.

The Lakers brain trust has a major decision to make during the All-Star break. Do they really write this year off as a gap year and keep starting the Big Three? Or do they sell LeBron that coming off the bench is the answer.
Nobody’s saying LeBron’s not good enough to start or that he would not play the same minutes or close games. We’re talking about putting him on the court in winning lineups where he’s the first rather than third option.

The numbers say the Lakers should create two new star-driven lineups, one featuring Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to get the team off to a good start and one featuring LeBron James to dominate the middle and end of games.
Luka and Austin don’t need a third star. They need a bouncy center for vertical space and lethal shooter for horizontal space. LeBron doesn’t need a second star. When Luka and Austin rest, give him the ball, let him work.

The numbers say it’s time for the Lakers to move on from their offense-first Big Three starting lineup and weak bench and switch to a dynamic Doncic and Reaves starting lineup and elite starter-quality James backup lineup.

WHO SHOULD START

…

Building a new starting lineup around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves should be easy as the duo has an offensive rating of 117.3, defensive rating of 110.6, and net rating of +6.7 in 19 games and 466 minutes together.

Since the Lakers will start Luka Doncic at point guard and Austin Reaves at shooting guard, they need to add a starting small forward, power forward, and center with good positional size, shooting, rebounding, and defense.
Strategically, the Lakers should view the remaining 28 games in the season as their ramp up for the playoffs and only invest playing time in players whom they believe can finish the season strong and shine in the playoffs.

The Lakers best option as a two-way 3&D starting small forward is Jake LaRavia. At 6′ 7″ with a 6′ 10″ wingspan, Jake’s shown promise as a potential future star role player with positional size and elite defensive versatility.
To better match up against bigger lineups, the Lakers should opt for a two-bigs lineup rather than a traditional power forward and center. They need a pair of versatile bigs who can stretch the floor vertically and horizontally.

With LeBron James moving to the bench, this is the perfect time to start Jaxson Hayes and move Deandre Ayton to the bench to play with LeBron. Hayes’ play has earned a level of trust at center that Ayton’s simply has not.
The ideal second big to play next to Jaxson Hayes should be Maxi Kleber, who’s healthy and thriving. Kleber and Hayes played 47 minutes in 9 games with a 114.7 offensive rating, 105.3 defensive rating, and +9.4 net rating.

The Lakers should revamp their starting lineup for more positional size, 3-point shooting, and team defense. The new Lakers’ starters should be Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jake LaRavia, Maxi Kleber, and Jaxson Hayes.

WHO SHOULD COME OFF BENCH?

…

The numbers say LeBron James’ best 5-man lineup this season was playing with Smart, Vanderbilt, Ayton, and Hachimura, where they posted an elite 124.3 offensive rating, 102.6 defensive rating, and +21.7 net rating.

While they only played 19 minutes in 7 games, this 5-man lineup or a variation with Kennard replacing Vanderbilt should become the ultimate lineup target as the Lakers organically sub out starters for bench players.
While they won’t be using hockey substitutions, the Lakers want opposing teams to spend 90% of the game facing their new Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves led starting lineup or their new LeBron James led bench lineup.

During the final 28 games, the Lakers’ top priority is to develop the kind of chemistry and continuity they will need to salvage and survive the long regular season and then rally and win their way to the conference finals.
The Lakers need both the Luka and Austin starting lineup as well as the LeBron led bench lineup together to excel and play most of the 48 minutes of playing time in the 28 games remaining in the 2025–26 NBA Season.

Right now, the Lakers rank #28 in the league in bench scoring at 115.9 ppg. One of the things that makes this new bench lineup so dangerous is all of the bench players except Kennard have experience playing with LeBron.
The James fivesome will likely be so good that they may steal minutes from the Luka and Austin fivesome. LeBron may ultimately play fewer minutes because of not starting but his impact on closing wins could be greater.

The Lakers should revamp their bench lineup for more size, shooting, and defense. The Lakers’ new bench lineup should include Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Deandre Ayton.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, the Lakers have shifted their massive roster makeover to next summer when they’ll have 3 first round picks to trade and $60 million in cap space for other teams’ free agents.

Mark Walter plans to completely overhaul the Lakers front office this summer, expanding a front office and scouting department that had just a handful of people to a fully grown organization with a staff of over 100. The goal is to build a world class front office and championship scouting department for the Los Angeles Lakers that’s modeled after what Mark Walter’s crew built after buying the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2012.

While Rob Pelinka claims Jeanie Buss and he will be running the Lakers going forward with support from Mark Walter, the more realistic view is the team’s days of being run like a family business are already long gone.
By summer, Buss and Pelinka will be quickly be assimilated into a new expanded Lakers’ executive team along with the brightest and best front office, data analytics, and team building minds Mark Walter’s could buy.

While Walter will give Pelinka and Redick a chance to show they deserve to keep their jobs, their future is understandably tied to this roster and how well this team finishes the season and how deep they go into the playoffs.
Frankly, the Lakers may need to make the conference finals to save Rob’s and JJ’s jobs and earn them a shot to pull off the massive summer rebuild. LA needs their GM and coach of the future calling next summer’s shots.

Armed with 3 first round picks and $60 million cap space, the Lakers have two potential directions next summer: trade for Antetokounmpo or try to steal restricted free agents Walker Kessler, Peyton Watson, and Tari Eason.

TRADING FOR ANTETOKOUNMPO

Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF, 31, 6′ 11″, 7′ 3″, 243 lbs, 3-yrs $175.4M
28.0/10.0/5.6/0.7/0.9 in 29.2 mpg. 3P->0.5/1.3/39.5%

…

One thing that won’t change with Mark Walter as owner of the Lakers is their legendary obsession with chasing superstars. The Lakers’ #1 priority this summer is to make a blockbuster trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Like Jerry Buss, Mark Walter firmly believes superstars are key to financial success in professional sports and transformed the Dodgers into an MLB juggernaut by relentlessly upgrading every position with superstar players.
The Lakers will not be able to replicate the Dodgers’ strategy because NBA salary cap rules make it almost impossible for teams to afford to build deep championship rosters while having to pay for more than two max salaries.

Franky, trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo should not be the Lakers’ top priority this summer because the odds of it happening are miniscule. LA is a long way from Greece and Giannis still wants to be his team’s alpha dog.
The only way the Lakers could win a Giannis trade this summer would be if he demanded to traded to them, they included Austin Reaves, and they were able to transform their 3 unprotected picks into 9 protected picks.

The Lakers will probably make a concerted effort this summer to expand their draft capital by swapping unprotected first round picks for multiple protected picks. Expect other teams to follow a similar strategy with picks.
The recent tactics by teams like the Thunder, Spurs, and Nets of building massive stockpiles of future first round and second round picks have reduced the number but increased the value of the picks other teams have.

As fascinating as it would be to see Luka Doncic paired up with Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Lakers would be smarter to pursue three elite elite younger players like Walker Kessler, Peyton Watson, and Tari Eason.

STEALING KESSLER, WATSON, & EASON

Walker Kessler, CE, 24, 7′ 0″, 7′ 6″, 245 lbs, 1-yr $4.9M
14.4/10.8/3.0/1.8/1.4 in 30.8 mpg. 3P->1.2/1.6/75.0%

Peyton Watson, SF, 23, 6′ 8″, 7′ 1″, 200 lbs, 1-yr $4.4M
14.9/4.9/2.0/1.2/1.9 in 30.7 mpg. 3P->1.5/3.7/41.7%

Tari Eason, PF, 23, 6′ 8″, 7′ 2″, 215 lbs, 1-yr $5.47M
12.4/6.3/1.4/0.6/1.3 in 25.0 mpg. 3P->2.2/4.7/47.8%

…

With 3 first-round picks and $60 million cap space, the Lakers are planning a massive summer free agency makeover by stealing 3 young non-extended restricted free agents in Walker Kessler, Peyton Watson, and Tari Eason.

Kessler, Watson, and Eason will all be restricted free agents next summer because the Jazz, Nuggets, and Rockets didn’t extend their rookie contracts for various reasons, including luxury tax and first and second apron issues.
Targeting restricted free agents is normally considered to be a risky gamble because the player’s prior team always has a 48 hour right of first refusal to match the offer and retain the player, which ties up the offered cap space.

Teams trying to steal other team’s free agents strategically make offers that the player’s original team can’t or won’t match because of the cost, poison pill, increased luxury taxes, exceeding an apron, or other financial needs.
Trying to steal 1 restricted free agent is a tricky challenge that ties up the offered cap space for 48 hours. There has never been an NBA team that tried to simultaneously steal 3 restricted free agents in a single summer.

That’s where the unlimited resources Mark Walter can bring to the Lakers comes in play. By summer, it won’t Rob Pelinka but a fully integrated front office team of advanced, experienced salary cap experts seeking solutions.
Figuring out how to simultaneously steal 3 restricted free agents from 3 NBA teams is exactly the type of innovative out-of-the-box solution Mark Walter’s Dodgers successfully parlayed into 3 World Series triumphs.

The Lakers must have something special planned for this summer to allow almost $100 million in expiring contracts walk away with nothing in return and then gamble it all on stealing 3 restricted free agents from other teams.

CREATING STARTING LINEUP OF FUTURE

…

Completing an extreme roster makeover by signing multiple restricted free agents has never been done in NBA history. However, the current timing and situation could not be more perfect for the Lakers to pull this off.

What the Lakers desperately need from next summer’s massive roster makeover is their starting 3&D small forward and starting modern center of the future to go with their Doncic and Reaves backcourt of the future.
The Lakers would love to add their power forward of the future but like Meat Loaf sang, ‘Two out of three ain’t bad’ and stealing Peyton Watson from the Nuggets and Walker Kessler from the Jazz would be grand theft.

Right now, it appears as if the Lakers could easily put together a $30 to $35 million per year offer for Peyton Watson the Nuggets would decline to match. The Nuggets would prefer losing Watson than paying luxury taxes.
Other factors include that Peyton is an LA and UCLA kid who grew up as a Lakers fan and is represented by Clutch Sports. The Lakers are also the only team projected to have cap space to sign a players to a max contract.

Walker Kessler is more challenging because Danny Ainge has said they want to keep him long-term. The Lakers would probably have to offer Kessler a $41 million max offer to get the Jazz to decline to match them.
That means the only realistic way the Lakers could get Walker Kessler is via a sign-and-trade on draft day next summer, when the Lakers could offer their 2026, 2027 (1–4), 2031, and 2033 first round picks to trade to the Jazz.

Finally, the Lakers could choose to be hardcapped by the second rather than the first apron to get another $11 million in cap space to make an offer to also add Tari Eason that the Rockets might not be willing to match.