Shams Charania’s Inside Pass: Trade Buzz on Lakers, Bulls, Rest of NBA

On By Littum

During the NBA season and into the summer, Shams Charania’s Inside Pass will tackle the news and transaction stories that could shake up the league.

The Los Angeles Lakers (23-18) sit in a dangerous position, currently just one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for sixth in the West and the guaranteed playoffs that come with it. Their two cornerstones—the 40-year-old LeBron James and Anthony Davis—continue to perform at elite levels, both almost certain to make another All-Star Game appearance next month in San Francisco.

But with the Feb. 6 trade deadline a little more than two weeks away, league sources told ESPN that James and Davis are becoming concerned about the Lakers’ ability to make significant roster upgrades with their two tradable first-rounders. James, a four-time champion, and Davis, a one-time champion, have expressed their desire for the franchise to make moves to contend for a championship, with the co-stars believing in the Lakers said.

James and Lakers head coach JJ Redick made some very telling comments following the team’s road blowout loss to the LA Clippers on Sunday night.

“That’s the way our team is constructed, we have no room for error,” James said. “We don’t have a choice. That’s how our team is built. We have to play close to perfect basketball.”

The Lakers have been without scrappy Vanderbilt and Christian Wood, both expected to be key members of the rotation, all season.

“It just goes back to not having a huge margin for error, and I think our group is like, if one guy is out of the rotation, there’s an exponential effect on that,” Redick said. “When we’re healthy, we’re whole and we play connected and we execute, I think we’re a good basketball team.”

Recently, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry — in a similar position to James in the Twilight years of his career — took a different approach, paying attention to the patience toward his team. He has been in constant communication with Warriors leadership, and while Golden State has explored another star to pair with Curry and Draymond Green, the bigger names that might be available haven’t appealed to all parties.

“Desperate trades or desperate moves that deplete the future, there’s a responsibility to allow or keep the franchise in a good space and a good place when it comes to where we leave this thing when we’re done,” Curry said. “Doesn’t mean you’re not trying to get better. Doesn’t mean you’re not active in any kind of search for if you have an opportunity where a trade makes sense or even in summer free agency makes sense.

“Nobody wants to be out of date or be in a situation where you’re giving options. But that doesn’t mean you’re desperate to just throw assets around the place just because you want to do something.”

The Lakers have done their due diligence in gauging trade interest around the league and are open to using their tradable first-round picks on players who fit this iteration of the Davis-James team as well as for years to come. Redick, sources said. Los Angeles has already made a trade this season, sending D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. However, Finney-Smith is still working to find his rhythm as he sees his 3-point shooting drop from 43.5% to 36%, and Milton has essentially been out of the rotation for the last two weeks.

Still, the pace remains for the Lakers, who won a championship in 2020 with James and Davis, but have won just two playoff series since (both in 2023). The Lakers currently have these two first-round picks (2029, 2031) and two second-round picks (2025, their own and the Clippers’) available to trade, in a league currently in the midst of its longest stretch of Parity in decades.

“Boston, OKC and Cleveland are what they are,” a senior team official said in recent days. “But this is wide open.”

LA has been in this position before in the James-Davis era. The Lakers were 27-25 heading into the deadline last season when the team failed to strike a deal, with vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka citing disinterest from other organizations by telling reporters, “You can’t buy a house, is not for sale.”

The Lakers also sat out the 2022 trade deadline when the team was 26-30 in their first season with Russell Westbrook, and instead tapped the waiver wire to try to give the team a boost down the stretch.

The Lakers’ patience in 2022 paid off the following season, when Pelinka and the front office executed a series of moves — including parting ways with Westbrook and his $46.3 million salary — to reinvigorate the team. The new energy and additional talent acquired in Russell, Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura helped spark a run to the Western Conference Finals, a remarkable turnaround for a team that started the season 2-10.

As negotiations accelerate over the next 15 days, the perception of a wide-open league provides huge motivation for some title and playoff contenders. Here are some other notable pieces to keep an eye on beyond the Lakers, starting with the latest on the situation between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.

Miami Heat

Sources said the Heat have been in productive talks with several teams about a Jimmy Butler trade-talks received a boost when the Phoenix Suns acquired three first-round picks in a trade that sent their first-rounder to the Utah Jazz.

Butler requested a trade from the Heat earlier this month and, according to sources, has since reiterated the request during in-person meetings with team president Pat Riley, owner Micky Arison and CEO Nick Arison. The Suns are at the top of his list of preferred destinations, sources added. A potential Butler deal would likely require three-to-five team drafts for Phoenix because the Heat have shown no interest in bringing back Bradley Beal, who has two years and $111 million on his contract after this season.

For the Suns’ triple, their 2031 first-round pick now moves their pool of tradable firsts from just one to three and unlocks the next six years of draft picks. They are expected to be aggressive in looking for upgrades to the roster between now and the trade deadline to elevate an underperforming team around Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

Chicago Bulls

Sources said the Bulls have received calls from teams about two key players: Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic.

Rival leaders have hailed a rejuvenated season from LaVine, who in his 11th season is shooting a career high overall (51.4%) and on 3s (45%) while averaging 24 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4, 5 assists. Lavine has impressed the Bulls with his professionalism and leadership, a year after both sides scanned the market for trade options.

Vucevic, meanwhile, has also had a strong campaign, averaging 20.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists. The Warriors are among teams expressing interest in the 6-foot-10 center, sources said. At 34, Vucevic has shown that he can age gracefully; He is shooting 55.4% from the field and 41.1% from 3 this season.

Detroit stamps

Coming off a 14-win season, the Pistons (22-21) are in the hunt for a postseason berth under new overseers of the organization — president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon and head coach JB Bickerstaff. Detroit also got an All-Star-caliber season from the face of the franchise, the 2021 No. 1 Pick Cade Cunningham, who averaged 24.5 points, 9.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds. Detroit, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2019 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008, is seventh in the East, just a half-game behind the sixth-place Atlanta Hawks.

Adding to the Pistons’ luck, they also have the most cap space available in the NBA right now — $14 million — and are expected to be significant players to take salary along with an asset or to use the cap space for an upgrade ahead of the deadline.

Boston Celtics

The Grousbeck family expects four to five bidders for the sale of the Celtics at a valuation exceeding $6 billion, sources said. The Celtics are expected to choose from two finalists in the first quarter of this year.