ESPN predicts Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors will battle for the final guaranteed playoffs spot in the 2025-26 NBA season.

Luka Doncic's strong play in EuroBasket has the Lakers wanting to make some more moves to put talent around him.

The Dallas Mavericks ' decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers will go down as one of the more memorable and confusing trades in NBA history, if not the worst trade ever. Doncic had just led the Mavs to the NBA Finals the season before, but then Nico Harrison decided he had enough and dumped Doncic in the middle of the night.

The Lakers still value their lone tradeable first-round pick, either in 2031 or 2032, as a piece earmarked for a much bigger move in the future. However, they have a mixture of expiring contracts and a former first-round pick in Dalton Knecht that could be packaged together if another team were looking to shed salary.

LeBron James opted into his $52.6 million player option, keeping him in purple and gold for another run. The team signed Deandre Ayton on a two-year, $16.6 million deal, added Marcus Smart on a two-year, $11 million contract, and in August, Luka Doncic committed long term with a three-year, $165 million maximum extension.