The Lakers’ backup-center problem has a price tag, and it has been sitting on the table for two weeks. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that Milwaukee wanted two future second-round picks in a deal headlined by Dalton Knecht and Jericho Sims, and that the Lakers would go only to one. SES’s proposal closes that gap with a player instead of a second pick: Bronny James and one second-round pick for Sims.
Carr’s Assignment Makes Bronny James the Odd Guard Out
Monday’s roster move points the way. The Lakers assigned rookie Cameron Carr to the Coachella Valley Lakers, hours after ruling him out again with an oblique strain. The guard depth chart is already full: Carr faces a difficult path to minutes in a backcourt of Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes, and Bronny James sits behind all of them.
Behind Walker Kessler the picture is much thinner, with Kevon Looney the only other true center on the roster. Moving surplus at guard to cover a shortage at center is the trade this roster is built to make.
The Money Clears Easily
Bronny James carries a 2026-27 salary of $2,296,271, which is not fully guaranteed. Sims, who opted in this summer, carries a fully guaranteed $2,801,346 on an expiring deal. That puts $505,075 more salary coming into Los Angeles than going out.
That increase is trivial for a team in the Lakers’ position. Los Angeles is hard-capped at the first apron, $209,015,000, after acquiring Kessler via sign-and-trade this offseason. But their payroll sits around $201.3 million, roughly $7.7 million below that line, so they are under the apron rather than above it.
The distinction is the whole ballgame. Teams above the first apron are held to dollar-for-dollar salary matching and cannot take back a cent more than they send. Teams below it get the expanded matching bands, which on an outgoing salary this size allow far more than the $505,075 at issue here. Milwaukee, for its part, takes back less than it sends, which always works.
The deal does cost money. The Lakers are already a taxpayer, so the extra half-million raises the tax bill. That is a small price for a playable center.
No Calendar Problem
Neither player signed as a free agent this offseason, so neither is waiting on Dec. 15. Bronny James is in year three of the rookie deal he signed in 2024, with a 2027-28 salary of $2,486,995 after this one. Sims re-signed in July 2025 and exercised his option in June.
The Lakers’ own offseason signings are a different story. Kessler, Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Sexton are not trade-eligible until Dec. 15 at the earliest, which means a deal built from these two contracts is close to the only kind Los Angeles can make before then. It also keeps the roster at 15.
One thing is genuinely unsettled, and it is worth stating plainly: no reporting has established whether Sims’ contract carries any approval rights over a trade. That is an execution risk on a deal that otherwise has none.
Why Milwaukee Takes It
The Bucks asked for two seconds. Here they get one, plus a 22-year-old guard under contract for another year at $2,486,995. That is a cheap look at a young player with no commitment beyond it, in place of an expiring contract they were already shopping.
The trade fits what Milwaukee is doing. Sims has been reported as a trade candidate while the Bucks clear salary and add draft capital, and the team is managing a crowded big-man rotation. He played two minutes in the season opener.
For the Lakers, Sims fills the hole they have. He averaged 5.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 19.7 minutes per game last season as an athletic finisher. They need a backup center for those minutes, not a stretch five who would cost a first-round pick they do not have.
The Price Rises After Dec. 15
The Lakers turned this asking price down once because two seconds felt like too much, and they were right to. Swapping in Bronny James for the second pick answers that objection without raising the real cost, and Los Angeles should not go further than this.
The risk is waiting. On Dec. 15 every contender’s summer signings become tradable, the market for centers widens, and a team that will pay two seconds without blinking turns up. The Lakers are 3-0 and the hole behind Kessler has not closed by itself.
Source: Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. Contract figures via Basketball-Reference.
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