The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into a crucial offseason, as the franchise has multiple decisions to make to successfully build a contending roster around 27-year-old star Luka Doncic. They have to make offseason contract decisions on stars like Austin Reaves and LeBron James, and also on role players like Rui Hachimura and Luke Kennard. In addition, they need to add the right pieces through the draft, free agency, and the trade market to help the franchise progress from their No. 4 seed finish last season.
Head coach JJ Redick has proven he can help the Lakers overachieve in terms of the results he can draw out from rosters that have been predicted to finish worse than they actually did. He’s proven to the front office that he can maximize production from the players they give him, so maybe they will give him a player he rates highly this offseason.
Given the Lakers have a clear need for a long-term starting center, there might be a potential trade candidate the Lakers could make a move for whom Redick is a fan of. In his two-year stint as a media voter for NBA awards, there was one center in the NBA that Redick seemingly rated much higher than his peers. This is Brooklyn Nets center Nicolas Claxton, who Redick voted on the 2022-23 All-Defensive Team and as the runner-up in Most Improved Player of the Year.
According to HoopsHype’s media voter data, Redick’s evaluation of Claxton was +3.5 points over every other media member, and was the biggest aberration from the mean for Redick’s ballot compared to others over this two-year stint.
Claxton averaged 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 blocks last season, with his primary skills as an interior defender basically worthless on the tanking Nets, although his development as a secondary playmaker is encouraging to see.
Redick voted for Claxton in 22-23 when they made a surprising run to the NBA Playoffs, but the last three seasons of ruthless tanking have dropped Claxton’s value considerably. He averaged 12.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in that season.
With the Nets likely still a few years away from being a contender, there’s no point in holding onto Claxton if a team comes in with a strong offer. With Redick being one of the few who understand how impactful Claxton can be as a defensive presence based on how he performed when the Nets were trying to win, adding him to the Lakers could be the perfect decision.
A trade for Claxton won’t be cheap, even after his value has slipped in recent years. The Lakers will have to match Claxton’s $23.1 million contract. They’d likely do this through a trade package featuring Dalton Knecht ($4,201,080) and Jarred Vanderbilt ($12,428,571) to absorb into the team’s cap space before working on Bird right extensions on their own free agents, allowing them to re-sign them at whatever cost.
Claxton would fill the glaring hole at center. At his best when he was playing on a Playoff-caliber Nets squad, Claxton proved he can be a low-usage star in his role by being a hustle defender who’ll ruthlessly protect the paint. He’s an aggressive rebounder as well, but his poor offensive skills have caused his defensive impact to be forgotten as the Nets have spent multiple seasons tanking.
The Lakers need a center like Claxton to do the dirty work on defense while being athletic enough to be successful as a roller in the pick-and-roll with Doncic, Reaves, or LeBron. Claxton would be the perfect addition, keeping all this in mind.
With Lakers’ new owner Mark Walter proving he isn’t afraid to spend, the Lakers would likely accept going into the luxury tax to build a genuine contender around Doncic two years away from his potential free agency in 2028. Adding Claxton and then re-signing their productive free agents like Reaves, James, Hachimura, and Kennard might instantly boost their status into potential contenders.
