The Los Angeles Lakers have so many question marks surrounding the team heading into the 2025-26 season.
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For one, LeBron James is set to miss the start of the season with sciatica. A competitive Western Conference means the Lakers will have to hold it down without the superstar.
Luka Doncic’s leadership will have to be on full display as the Lakers make the organizational transition with the 26-year-old at the helm. LA is shifting gears with Doncic as the face of the franchise, and Lakers insider Jovan Buha believes the team’s new perspective could lead to making a trade for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“So, I wonder if the Lakers recent shift toward being more of a short-term or like win-now mode is maybe in part due to Luka’s success in EuroBasket,” Buha said. “But I think more so maybe gaining some intel that some of the big fish they were hoping to catch are not going to be available or as available as they thought. I think the Lakers got to be careful with how they position themselves for the future because it’s tough to find a Knicks-Giannis trade.
“So if that for whatever reason just can’t happen, and Milwaukee refuses to play ball with New York, then the Lakers could can swoop in and potentially offer a competitive package. They will have three draft picks as of next summer. So could you do something with Austin (Reaves) and three picks and Dalton (Knecht) and Rui (Hachimura) sign-and-trade or something…could you get in the mix for Giannis with that trade package? Maybe. I think there are teams that can outbid them for sure, especially with draft capital, but it just depends what Milwaukee wants and how they view things.”
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The Lakers have the pieces to make an enticing package for Antetokounmpo; however, it depends on how highly they’d view LA’s first-round picks or their current trade pieces like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht, to name a few.
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