LeBron James and Anthony Davis want the team to make a big push

The Los Angeles Lakers have spent the past half-decade or so in all-in mode. They traded a boatload of draft picks for Anthony Davis in 2019 in order to pair him with LeBron James. Ever since, the Lakers have operated as buyers. They’ve given up first-round picks in three separate trades (for Dennis Schroder in 2020, Russell Westbrook in 2021 and D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley in 2023), and they have now paid the luxury tax four seasons in a row. But ever since the 2020 championship, this approach has failed to take the Lakers back to the NBA Finals. In the past four seasons, the Lakers have made it beyond the first round only once.

This has understandably made James and Davis a bit antsy about the team’s immediate prospects. James is 39 years old and eligible to become a free agent this offseason. Davis, who is under contract through the 2027-28 season, is 31 and only has so many prime years left. The Lakers have three tradable first-round picks remaining: No. 17 overall on Wednesday as well as 2029 and 2031 picks down the line. The Lakers, thus far, have hesitated to include those picks, especially the deep future selections, for short-term upgrades.

But according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, James and Davis would prefer if “the Lakers would prove their desire to win this week by going all-in for another elite player.” This approach has obviously yielded mixed results in the past. Going all-in for Davis won the Lakers a championship in 2020. It also led to the disastrous Westbrook deal. During JJ Redick’s introductory press conference on Monday, general manager Rob Pelinka indicated that he would be choosy on the trade market. “If the perfect trade comes along, and we can use picks to make it and win a championship, yeah, we’ll do it,” Pelinka said. “Is that trade going to be there? I don’t know. It’s harder in this system to find perfect trades.”

While the widespread expectation is that James will remain with the Lakers, Amick reports that he “desperately wants to win at the highest of levels” again. If the Lakers don’t make the sort of moves he and Davis are hoping for, James could opt out of the final year of his contract and pursue fits with other teams. So which players are on the table for the Lakers if they do make a serious short-term push? Here are a few that have been reported by both Amick and Yahoo’s Jake Fischer: