The Los Angeles Lakers stayed relatively quiet at the trade deadline this year. They made only one trade, swapping Gabe Vincent for Luke Kennard with the Atlanta Hawks, and giving them a 2032 second-round pick in the process. The biggest reason for this inaction is that the Lakers are — fairly openly — prioritizing clean books and cap space in the summer of 2026.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was hesitant to take on long-term money last offseason, and that didn’t change at the trade deadline. Kennard is on an expiring $11 million contract — similar to Vincent — which allowed Pelinka to agree to the deal without concern.
That leaves the Lakers with a projection of around $48.5 million in cap space for the summer of 2026, which is among the most in the league, according to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron:
2026 cap space projections (post-trade deadline)
Bulls: $45-60 million (depends on Ivey)
Lakers: $48.5 million
Nets: $40 million
Clippers: $40 million (No Mathurin)
Hawks: $25 million (No Kuminga)Few cap space teams and fewer attainable talent on the market pic.twitter.com/M81wbuUaIE
— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) February 5, 2026
The $48.5 million number, Gozlan lists above, includes Reaves’ $20.9 million cap hold. All signs are pointing to Reaves signing a long-term deal with L.A. this summer at a higher number than that, but that won’t affect their cap space. The Lakers have Reaves’ bird rights, meaning as long as they keep his cap hold on their books, they can sign him to upwards of a max deal while being above the salary cap.
This number also includes player options for Deandre Ayton — $8,104,000 — and Marcus Smart — $5,390,700 — which could both be off the books if they decline and L.A. chooses not to re-sign them. The Lakers would not be able to sign them to deals greater than 120% of their current salaries without using cap space.
Bronny James is on a partially-guaranteed $2,296,271 salary, meaning they could add some space by waiving him before his guarantee date of June 29, and save around $1 million.
Included in this projection are also the guaranteed salaries of Luka Doncic, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero and the Lakers’ 2026 first-round draft pick.
Of course, there are always trades the Lakers could make in June that increase this figure. But as things stand, the Lakers will have just under one max salary slot to make moves with this summer.
Top Lakers Free Agent Targets
Below are a list of the best free agents available in the offseason that the Lakers could pursue. LeBron James, an unrestricted free agent this summer, is not included in the list. But bringing him back, likely at a discount, is a possibility. The list is organized in order of the players’ 2025-26 salary.
Guards
Fred VanVleet (PO)
Norman Powell (UFA)
Lu Dort (TO)
Matisse Thybulle (UFA)
Quentin Grimes (UFA)
Ayo Dosunmu (UFA)
Jose Alvarado (UFA)
Forwards
Andrew Wiggins (PO)
Tobias Harris (UFA)
Draymond Green (PO)
Jonathan Kuminga (TO)
John Collins (UFA)
Tari Eason (RFA)
Peyton Watson (RFA)
Centers
Isaiah Hartenstein (TO)
Mitchell Robinson (UFA)
Moe Wagner (UFA)
Day’Ron Sharpe (TO)
Nick Richards (UFA)
Walker Kessler (RFA)
Sandro Mamukelashvili (PO)
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