Can the Lakers swing a big trade before the deadline?

Will the Los Angeles Lakers bolster their title chances with a deal before the 2020 NBA trade deadline?

With a four-game cushion atop the Western Conference at 29-7, the Lakers have the best odds among championship contenders at Caesars Sportsbook (plus-250). Yet a pair of losses to their fellow Staples Center tenants, the LA Clippers, have exposed shortcomings in the Lakers' closing five-man lineups.

The Lakers will surely look to upgrade their roster, whether it's via trade -- with little to offer in the way of draft picks after last summer's deal for Anthony Davis -- or with a midseason free agent.

ESPN experts Bobby Marks and Kevin Pelton assess the Lakers' trade options.

What can the Lakers offer in a trade?

Pelton: Bobby, let's start with the question of what the Lakers have to offer after the Davis deal depleted their stores of both draft picks and young talent.

What remains of value to other teams?

Marks: When looking at the Lakers' roster as well as their other trade assets, the process of elimination helps.

First, of course, LeBron and AD are untouchable. Second, because of the trade assets they stuffed into the Davis deal, the Lakers are not allowed to trade a first-round pick. They do have four second-round picks available, but the earliest would be in 2023.

From there, the balancing act is to tweak the roster without depleting necessary depth and defense -- which makes Danny Green close to untouchable. Then, three of the players teams might want have a player option for next season and veto power on any trade, limiting their value and the Lakers' flexibility: Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and JaVale McGee.

So, trade discussions are likely to focus on Kyle Kuzma, the Lakers' third-year forward. The question, though, is how much trade value does Kuzma have?

Pelton: The biggest concern with Kuzma is that his advanced statistics have trended in the wrong direction after a surprisingly strong rookie season.

Last season, you could attribute that to 30% 3-point shooting, which was probably at least as fluky as his 37% accuracy as a rookie. But Kuzma has settled in between those two figures this year (he's hitting 35% of his 3s) and has still seen his value stats drop across the board. For instance, he's down to a 10.7 PER after being closer to league average his first two seasons.

Kuzma would probably be more valuable to another team because his best skill is creating his own shot with moderate efficiency. We saw this in 2018-19 when LeBron was sidelined. It was Kuzma -- not 2016 No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram -- who stepped forward as the Lakers' leading scorer when James first went out, averaging 21.5 PPG and 3.0 APG in that span.

With LeBron healthy and Davis as a second primary shot creator, the Lakers no longer particularly need this skill, leaving Kuzma largely in a 3-and-D role he's less suited to play.

There are teams with less offensive talent that could use Kuzma's shot creation, and his bargain rookie contract -- he makes just $2 million this season and $3.6 million in 2020-21 ahead of either an extension or restricted free agency -- also provides trade value. Depending on the fit, Kuzma is surely more valuable than a late first-round pick most contenders have to offer.

But that same contract limits how much salary the Lakers can take back in return. If we assume that the players with veto power won't be part of a deal, what's the most money the Lakers could bring back by packaging players outside or on the fringes of their rotation?

Marks: I agree with you on Kuzma. If he is not making shots, there is little value when he is on the court.

That point was backed up when the Lakers did the Davis trade with New Orleans. While the optics made it seem like Kuzma was untouchable in the trade, I was told by reliable sources that New Orleans was focused on Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball instead.

When it comes to trading Kuzma, I agree that the return wouldn't be more than a pick in the 20s. That is why it could help to stack up the contracts of Kuzma and players like DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook. Both are essentially on expirings, with Cousins a free agent in July and Cook's $3 million salary for 2020-21 guaranteed for only $1 million.

If you add up the three contracts, that would get you to $8.5 million. For trade purposes, L.A. would be allowed to bring back $13.5 million in salary. However, because the Lakers have to stack the contracts and likely send three players, the receiving team would have to send more than one player back, waive a player to create room or find a third team.

In other words, it gets complicated because Kuzma's contract is small.

Which players should be the Lakers' top targets?

Marks: So the question becomes: What are the needs to be addressed and what does $13.5 million get you?

Pelton: I think that comes back to what was mentioned earlier -- who will be on the court for the Lakers at the end of games?

They've played 67 minutes this season that have fallen into NBA.com's definition of "clutch" situations (score within five points in the final five minutes). Of those, LeBron has played 65 (perhaps resting a bit past the five-minute mark once or twice) and Davis 62 (he missed a "clutch" loss at Indiana). Beyond those two givens, Frank Vogel is still searching for the best combination down the stretch. Caldwell-Pope (48) and Green (37) are the two other players who have played at least half of the Lakers' clutch minutes.

Ideally, the Lakers would find a point guard with enough shooting ability to play off the ball and enough size to switch screens. Unfortunately, that doesn't describe many players, and their trade value is probably more than the Lakers have to offer.

Failing that, I think I'd look for another wing who's a bit more reliable than Caldwell-Pope and will let James run the point down the stretch. Minnesota's Robert Covington is probably the archetypal example, and his $11.3 million salary fits neatly into what the Lakers can take back.

If his trade value proves too high, we're stretching for options. Perhaps, with Patrick McCaw playing well, the Raptors would trade Norman Powell ($10.1 million) for expiring contracts to take his 2021-22 player option off their books. Bringing back Reggie Bullock or Wayne Ellington from the Knicks ($4 million and $8 million, respectively, with $1 million apiece guaranteed in 2020-21) could be a lower-end option.

Ultimately, though, you don't have to go very far to start to wonder whether the Lakers have a better chance of landing a player via free agency.

Marks: The Lakers should put Covington as Option A when looking at trade targets. Is a package of Kuzma, Cousins and Cook enough to entice the Timberwolves? Covington is under contract through 2021-22 at team-friendly salaries of $11.3 million, $12.1 million and $13 million.

My sense from talking to teams is that Minnesota could create a bidding war leading up to the deadline. I believe what L.A. has to offer would fall short of the demands from the Timberwolves (or for a player such as Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Kings). That's unless they can entice a third team to take Kuzma, with the Wolves receiving something of more value to them, perhaps a starting point guard. Gersson Rosas, the new head of basketball operations in Minnesota, is using this season to audit his roster and can wait until the offseason to address its needs.

As you mentioned, with the Lakers' limitations, getting a point guard who hits on the three main criteria -- shooting, ability to play off the ball and enough size to switch on screens -- is like finding a needle in a haystack. Those players don't exist for what the Lakers have to offer.

That leads to free agency, meaning a player like Darren Collison or possible buyout candidates Brandon Knight, Reggie Jackson, Tyler Johnson, Evan Turner, Allen Crabbe and Marvin Williams.

Of course, we could also list Andre Iguodala, as it's looking likely that Memphis eventually trades him. But in that case, I don't see the Lakers gutting their roster for Iguodala, and they don't have the draft capital to make a deal. They could turn Kuzma into a first-round pick and send it to Memphis, but that has long-term downside for the Lakers. Iguodala is more of a rental, and Kuzma is their lone trade asset.

Do any of those players have appeal? If so, who would be the odd man out to create a roster spot?

Pelton: Setting aside Iguodala, of that group Collison looks like the best fit. I thought he was a good target for the Lakers last summer until he unexpectedly announced his retirement days before free agency began. Now, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that Collison is considering a return with either the Lakers or Clippers, they seem well positioned to sign him.

Not only do the Lakers have more playing time to potentially offer Collison than the Clippers, whose point guard rotation consists of Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams when healthy, they can also pay him a bit more. The Clippers are limited to the prorated veteran's minimum, currently about $1.5 million for a player with Collison's experience and decreasing by the day. Meanwhile, the Lakers can offer a one-year deal using the Cousins disabled exception (worth $1.75 million), which unlike the minimum salary does not decrease as the season goes on.

The Cousins exception was granted because an NBA-designated physician ruled him unlikely to be able to play by June 15, so unless his recovery is way ahead of schedule, waiving him is the best way to free a roster spot.

Collison doesn't entirely check the aforementioned point guard boxes, as at 6-foot he struggles defending bigger opponents on switches. But he's close to ideal for the Lakers as a ball handler and spot-up shooter and he wouldn't cost anything in trade assets. So, unless Kuzma has more trade value than we think, the Lakers may be better off trying to sign Collison and waiting to see whether Iguodala does somehow come free rather than trading for a lesser option.

Would you agree, Bobby?

Marks: I would put the full-court press on Collison if I were running the Lakers. I agree that they do have a financial advantage based on having the $1.75 million disabled player exception vs. the prorated minimum that the Clippers have. If Collison is going to decide after the trade deadline, as expected, the Clippers' potential offer might be about $1 million less, depending on the date he signs. For example, if Collison were to sign on March 1 with the Clippers, his salary would be $667,000 compared to $1.75 million with the Lakers.

The Lakers are in a great position, especially compared to the difficult situation they found themselves in last January. They have two franchise players and are on track for the No. 1 seed in the West playoffs. But with competition like the Clippers, the Milwaukee Bucks and several other contenders, they are far from being prohibitive favorites for the NBA title, or even an NBA Finals appearance.

Now the question is whether GM Rob Pelinka can successfully upgrade the roster, by either trade or the buyout market.