The Lakers may have steadied the ship a little over their last three games, winning two and putting a decent defensive performance on the board in the third. But they're still a group that obviously needs improvement if they're going to contend in a crowded Western Conference. 

Making trades, though, is no easy feat for this team, for a variety of reasons. Three big ones: 

1. The Lakers have limited trade capital. Not just picks (a couple first rounders, three seconds), but in useful salary. D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura both make near $20 million. Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt are just above $10 million. (This assumes that, for now at least, Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht are off the table.) But is Vanderbilt really tradable right now, with three years left on his contract and no sign of good health? How much of that limited draft capital would they have to include? So if Vando isn't really a practical option, LA's salary path gets that much more narrow. 
2. The Lakers are limited by the CBA. As we've heard from Rob Pelinka many times, we live in an Apron World now, and the Lakers are right up against the second one. Not only does that hamstring them (they can't take back money that would push them past the second apron) in trade scenarios, it also means they might have to use second rounders to get off certain players, just to create a little more space. Using picks to offload, say, Jaxson Hayes or Christian Wood leaves one less pick to try and elevate the talent on the roster. 
3. The Lakers don't have spare parts. While trading Vanderbilt would feel like a loss—in theory, he's the type of player the Lakers need more of in the rotation—he's not currently available, and may not be for a while longer. Trading him doesn't remove a player from the rotation. Trading Russell, Vincent, or Hachimura? Those are guys that would need to be replaced. Package a couple of those guys in a deal, and the Lakers could be filling one roster hole by creating another. 

None of this is to say the Lakers can't make deals, or won't get anything done. Or that Pelinka deserves any sort of sympathy or free pass. This is the box he put the team in, after all. But it's a reflection of reality. So much of what comes next will be out of LA's control. A seller's market puts them out of reach for a lot of players. 

But if the buyers have the advantage? Maybe then the Lakers have enough to do something consequential, perhaps even bringing multiple players back in a single deal (say, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith), patching weak spots on the roster in ways that feel coherent. 

We'll see. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are in a bind. 

SEGMENT 2: What are the trade offs the Lakers have to make to make trades? 

SEGMENT 3: Redick lays down the law? 

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