Lakers Get Ominous Update on Trade Market This Year

Nov 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick watches game action against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers are in need of an upgrade on the defensive end of the court.

While Luka Doncic, who is playing like an MVP candidate, has the offense rolling, the Lakers have struggled to contain opponents, holding the 20th-highest defensive rating thorugh 25 games this season.

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"We have to be able to guard," Marcus Smart, the Lakers' highest-rated defender this season, told Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. "The scouting report against us is we’re not guarding people. And if we want to be great in this league and do what we’re trying to do, you have to be able to guard, especially in the West."

The Lakers don't have an easy answer inside the building as to how to fix their defense. Guard Marcus Smart is the team's highest-rated defender and Jarred Vanderbilt — who has played just 18 total minutes in December — is the Lakers' second highest-rated defender.

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If the Lakers are to contend in the Western Conference — which is full of dominant offenses from Denver to Houston to Oklahoma City — they must acquire a versatile defensive player they can plug in immediately.

A Finite Trade Market?

Unfortunately for the Lakers, the market for the 3-and-D kind of plater the Lakers are looking for is thin at this point in the season.

"League sources say that the Lakers would naturally like to be in the 3-and-D market this Trade Season, but it's a very limited market at this juncture, essentially headlined by Sacramento's Keon Ellis despite the fact that Ellis is playing seven fewer minutes per game this season under Kings coach Doug Christie than he did last season," wrote Marc Stein of The Stein Line.

Ellis is averaging just 17 minutes per game this season, while making 37 percent of his 3-point attempts.

In limited action, Ellis is averaging 5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. While his addition to the Lakers would shore up their defense to an extent, it wouldn't inspire confidence in the same way adding a defender like New Orleans' Herbert Jones — who Stein reports is likely out of the Lakers' price range.

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