The Los Angeles Lakers are among the best teams in the Western Conference thus far in the 2025-26 NBA season, even without megastar LeBron James, who has missed the start of the campaign due to sciatica.
Still, despite their early success, there is always room for improvement, especially in a Western Conference dominated by defending NBA champs the Oklahoma City Thunder, who defeated the Lakers by 29 points Wednesday.
Enter Sacramento Kings star Domantas Sabonis, the 29-year-old center/forward who is averaging 15.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists this season and the subject of trade interest from several teams, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick.
Amick told the Carmichael David Show with Jason Ross that, “As it relates to Sabonis, my understanding is there are at least a few teams that have raised their hand to say, ‘Yeah, he’s somebody we’d want to talk about.'”
The Lakers owe it to themselves to explore a potential deal for the veteran big man. He provides two things that they need: better floor spacing and rebounding.
Los Angeles is third-worst in the NBA in rebounding, averaging just 40.3 per game. Sabonis would immediately upgrade that area of the team’s performance, giving them a presence on the boards they clearly do not have, despite their wins.
The team signed Deandre Ayton this past off-season, and to his credit, the somewhat maligned big man has rewarded their trust in him with 15.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
He has been everything they could have asked for more to this point in the season, and while a Sabonis trade would cut into his playing time, if he were not included in the package, the one thing the Lakers have suffered from in recent years is a lack of depth at key positions.
Sabonis is a more aware player than Ayton and could fill the gaps that the latter does not, while allowing the Lakers to run two bigs if and when the situation presents itself.
The Gonzaga product is scoring four points fewer than he did a season ago and is not without his flaws, including rim protection. Still, he is a significant enough upgrade and potential difference-maker that Los Angeles needs to explore adding him to the mix.
The Lakers have some salary cap issues and are focused on trying to get Austin Reaves under a long-term deal before he tests free agency next offseason, but if the front office can get creative and find a way to bring the Kings’ big man on board, he could very well be the difference between watching the Thunder compete for another NBA title and battling for one themselves.
