Lakers Rumors

Report: Lakers not expected to pursue multiple big men despite Anthony Davis’ pleas

Published by
Peter Dewey

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly aren’t expected to pursue Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic or Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline.

In addition to that, the Utah Jazz reportedly have made young big man Walker Kessler “close to unavailable” in the trade market. It had recently been reported that the Lakers had been met with the same obstacle in trade talks for the former first-round pick.

“Yet league sources stressed over the weekend that the Lakers are not expected to join the hunt for either Vučević or Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl … while oft-suggested Lakers target Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz is believed to as close to unavailable as it gets with less than 10 days to go before the trade deadline on Feb. 6 at 3 PM ET,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote.

Recently both LeBron James and Anthony Davis seemingly made demands to the Lakers’ front office to upgrade the roster.

James appeared to call out the front office after a recent loss, saying that the Lakers have to play close to “perfect” basketball to win.

Then, Davis reiterated his desire to play the power forward spot and not center, seemingly asking for the team to trade for a big man.

However, it appears that the Lakers won’t make a move for two of the top bigs that could be available at this season’s trade deadline.

Vucevic, who is a solid offensive player and floor-spacing big, is averaging 20.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game this season while shooting 55.5 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from 3.

There’s no doubt that Vucevic would be an upgrade offensively for the Lakers, but he isn’t known for his defensive prowess.

Meanwhile, Poeltl isn’t the shooter that Vucevic is, but he is an impressive rebounder and a strong rim protector. The Raptors big man is averaging 14.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game this season.

There is still time for the Lakers to make a deal ahead of the trade deadline, but it appears that they may focus on other areas than adding a center. Los Angeles has already made one trade this season, bringing in Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton in a deal that sent guard D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn.

Peter Dewey

Peter is a graduate of Quinnipiac University where he covered the MAAC and college basketball for three years. He has worked for NBC Sports, the Connecticut Sun and the Meriden Record-Journal covering basketball and other major sports. Follow him on Twitter @peterdewey2.

Published by
Peter Dewey

Recent Posts

Report: Luka’s early Lakers struggles come with guard possibly still ‘shell-shocked’ from trade

It's been more than two weeks since the Dallas Mavericks did the unthinkable and traded…

February 20, 2025

Patrick Beverley says Lakers may have best No. 3 and No. 4 options in entire NBA

Luka Doncic and LeBron James stand out as the Los Angeles Lakers' top two options…

February 19, 2025

Report: Current expectation is LeBron will remain with Lakers through ‘at least’ 2025-26 season

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been open about the fact that he is…

February 19, 2025

Mark Williams didn’t think failing his physical was even possible: ‘The night I got traded I played hella minutes’

Ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers agreed to a deal…

February 19, 2025

Paul George says Lakers are going to be ‘nightmare’ to face: ‘Thank God the Mark Williams s—t didn’t go through’

The Los Angeles Lakers shook up the dynamic of their team in a major way…

February 19, 2025

Rick Fox’s genius idea to Kevin Durant’s proposal to cancel All-Star Weekend

The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend has now come and gone. It culminated on Sunday with…

February 18, 2025