The Lakers are trying to solve two problems at once: trim a crowded roster and keep the group on the same page long enough for the season to start taking shape.
On one side is the front office, which is still putting the finishing touches on a new-look roster and has been exploring consolidation trades for months. On the other is JJ Redick’s coaching staff, which is trying to build continuity with players in and out of the lineup during preseason.
That tension is what makes the next few weeks tricky. The Lakers have 16 guaranteed players and need to get down to 15 by Opening Night, while also looking at ways to address needs at starting power forward and backup center. If they do make a trade, the names most often mentioned in the reporting are Dalton Knecht and Jaden Hardy, both on expiring contracts. If the team has to waive someone and eat salary, Knecht — the 2024 No. 17 pick out of Tennessee — appears to be the likeliest candidate.
Redick, meanwhile, is talking about a process that is still very much underway.
“We had a wonderful team dinner last night… We’re doing things,” he said, describing the off-court work the Lakers are using to help a roster with a number of new players come together.
He has also been blunt about the timeline. “I don’t care what anybody says, that takes weeks and weeks of the regular season, especially for a group that has nine new players,” Redick said, adding that ideal chemistry may not really arrive until “weeks and months into the regular season.”
That’s the backdrop for a preseason in which availability has been uneven. Players have been in and out of the lineup, making it harder for Redick to settle on combinations or evaluate how the pieces fit together. He has said he believes the group is building great chemistry despite the absences, and he pointed to the summer work in Las Vegas as part of that foundation.
The on-court issues have shown up in the numbers, too. The Lakers have averaged 25 turnovers in all four of their preseason games, a problem Redick has identified as a recurring issue. He has said the turnovers have been especially noticeable in crowded situations, and the absence of Collin Sexton — expected to be a key ball-handler but not yet available — only adds to the challenge.
That is where the roster question becomes more than a bookkeeping exercise. The Lakers have been exploring a 2-for-1 trade for months that could send a combination of Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaden Hardy, and Dalton Knecht out in exchange for one player coming back. They also explored a trade for Buddy Hield, but it never came together.
So the Lakers are left with a familiar preseason balancing act: keep enough flexibility to improve the roster, but avoid making a move that slows the chemistry they are still trying to build. With the roster limit looming and the turnovers piling up, they do not have much time to separate the two.