Last updated November 10, 2026. Ten targets, ranked on whether the Los Angeles Lakers could actually get them — not on how good the player is. Every name here comes from a Side Eye Sports piece that argued it, and each entry says whose idea it was and what the verdict was. Some of these are arguments against the trade. Those are on the board too, ranked low, because a map of what has been considered is more useful than a wish list.
1. Brook Lopez, LA Clippers
Eli Gregorski of Heavy relayed a proposal sending Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaden Hardy and Bronny James across the hall for Derrick Jones Jr. and Lopez. Side Eye Sports split it in two and kept the center: a Lopez trade costs Jaden Hardy, not Jarred Vanderbilt. Hardy’s $6,000,000 unlocks a $12,250,000 ceiling under the Lakers’ below-apron bracket, which covers Lopez’s expiring $9,187,500 with $3,062,500 to spare and $4,494,741 of hard-cap room left over. It can be done today, it needs no draft pick the Lakers have already spent, and Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported the Clippers are viewed as likely sellers, naming Lopez among five veterans. Mechanically clean, positionally right, and the one name on this board with reported availability behind it. Nobody has reported a price in picks, and whether the Clippers would sell to the team across the hall is their business.
2. Day’Ron Sharpe, Brooklyn Nets
The idea belongs to Jedd Pagaduan of ClutchPoints, who argued Sharpe would be an athletic backup center and an upgrade on Kevon Looney. Side Eye Sports agreed and found the cheaper route: a Sharpe trade fits, but not until December 15, with Hardy’s $6,000,000 absorbing Sharpe’s $10,000,000 and $2,250,000 of matching room unused, rather than Pagaduan’s version built on Collin Sexton, a bench piece the Lakers are using. Sharpe is the first target this fall the Lakers can fit without surrendering a rotation player. The date is the whole obstacle, and the hesitation is that Brooklyn has been starting him. Nobody has reported a Nets asking price, which is why he sits below Lopez rather than above.
3. Jericho Sims, Milwaukee Bucks
This is the only name on the board with real negotiations behind it, and that is also why it ranks where it does rather than higher. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that Milwaukee wanted two future second-round picks in a framework headlined by Dalton Knecht, and that the deal died over a single pick. With Knecht gone, Side Eye Sports proposed closing the gap with a player instead: Bronny James and one second-round pick for Sims. The money is trivial, $505,075 net coming in, and neither player is frozen until December 15. Reported talks outrank hypotheticals; talks that already collapsed, and a Bucks front office described as unreceptive to a single second, keep it out of the top two.
4. Karlo Matković, New Orleans Pelicans
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report grouped Matković with Goga Bitadze and Sims as the Lakers’ best backup-center options without attaching a package to any of them. Side Eye Sports supplied the structure, and it is the surprising part: a Matković trade starts with Kevon Looney, not Jaden Hardy. Matković’s $2,296,271 lets New Orleans absorb only $4,842,542, and Hardy’s $6,000,000 sits above that line, so the $6,000,000 contract is the wrong tool for a $2,296,271 problem. Looney’s $2,449,421 fits with nothing attached. Both halves wait for December 15, and no outlet has reported that the Pelicans would sell.
5. Jalen Smith, Chicago Bulls
Sai Mohan of Heavy proposed Hardy and a 2031 second-round pick for Smith’s expiring $9,428,571. Side Eye Sports found the trade legal and available immediately, and still said no, because the other side has no reason to say yes: Chicago has no reason to sell Smith for Jaden Hardy. The interest is genuinely there — Dan Woike of The Athletic reported Smith has fans inside the Lakers organization — which is what keeps him this high. What the deal asks Chicago to accept is an expiring stretch big for a guard the Lakers are openly shopping and a second-round pick five years out. Smith’s expiring contract makes him a better February target than an October one.
6. Derrick Jones Jr., LA Clippers
Side Eye Sports set a price ceiling on Jones in October — salary filler and second-round picks, no first — and the Lakers held it. The follow-up conceded the reasoning was wrong even though the call was right: Ziaire Williams took the starting job the trade was meant to fill, which is why Los Angeles could afford to wait rather than because three in-house options covered one spot. Jones is on an expiring $10,476,190, fully guaranteed, with nothing beyond it, and MacMahon’s reporting names him alongside Lopez among likely Clippers sellers. The case against adding him now is the Lopez piece: Jones is what drags Vanderbilt’s $12,428,571 into the deal. Bid lower in February.
7. Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
Chris Dodson of ClutchPoints reported that nine teams, Los Angeles among them, have been named by sources or seen in the arena evaluating Murphy and Herb Jones. Side Eye Sports worked the money and found it is not the problem: the Murphy problem is picks, not the hard cap. Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia and Hardy together send out $24,428,571, which clears the matching rule and leaves $5,110,812 of hard-cap room. What it does not clear is the asking price, because New Orleans wants first-round picks and the Walker Kessler sign-and-trade emptied that drawer for seven years. Scouts in an arena are not an offer. Legal and unobtainable is a worse combination than illegal and cheap.
8. Naz Reid, Charlotte Hornets
The Lakers checked in on Reid in October and made no serious offer, Dan Woike reported. Side Eye Sports priced the deal anyway and found it legal today: a Reid trade would cost Jarred Vanderbilt, $18,428,571 out with Hardy attached, $2,834,950 still under the hard cap. The recommendation then was to wait for December 15 and offer Sandro Mamukelashvili instead. That recommendation has since been withdrawn: Charlotte raised Reid’s minutes after benching him rather than cutting them, which means the price never moved, and both halves of the package have weakened. December 15 should pass without an offer.
9. P.J. Washington, Dallas Mavericks
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report made the fit case, describing Washington as a former Luka Dončić teammate and willing role player, and also reported his trade market as barren. Side Eye Sports endorsed the player and refused the price: the Lakers should make Dallas blink first, offering Vanderbilt’s shorter money and second-round picks and walking away if Dallas still wants a first. Jake Fischer reported the Mavericks have asked a first-round pick for Daniel Gafford and that Washington would be roughly similar. The Lakers have repeatedly said they have no interest, which Jacob Rude reported, and the obstacle is the $88.8 million guaranteed over four years rather than the matching rules.
10. Max Christie, Dallas Mavericks
Tyler Watts of Lake Show Life argued the Lakers should buy low on Christie before his price recovers. Side Eye Sports agreed on the mechanics and rejected the trade: a Christie trade costs the tax line, not a pick. Hardy for Christie clears matching with $3,964,286 unused, asks for no draft capital at all and could be done today — and it is still the wrong buy, because it would leave Los Angeles $3,190,473 past a tax line it is reportedly trying to get under, and Christie’s second year is his option rather than the team’s. He has started every game for Dallas, which is the cleanest evidence against the premise that the price will keep falling. Last because affording something is not a reason to buy it.
What Would Reshuffle This Board
December 15 is the date that moves almost everything on it. Kevon Looney, Quentin Grimes, Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams all become trade-eligible then, which is what unlocks the Sharpe and Matković routes and widens every other team’s options on the same day. Below that, two things would rearrange the order: any reported asking price on a name that currently has none, and any seller who will take second-round picks, because the first-round drawer is empty. Herb Jones cannot be traded until January 14. Kel’el Ware is off the board entirely now that Milwaukee has guaranteed his 2027-28 salary.
Every entry above is drawn from a published Side Eye Sports piece, linked in the entry. Contract, payroll, apron and trade-eligibility figures are as stated in those pieces; no cap math is recomputed here.
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