Lakers are expected to trade D'Angelo Russell and picks for Jarrett Allen

For a team with Anthony Davis and LeBron James at the top of its roster, the Los Angeles Lakers have been quiet this offseason. Aside from lining up Bronny James and Dalton Knecht, they have avoided operating out of bounds.

Could it be that Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office are waiting for more options to present themselves down the road? The Ringer's Michael Pina invested in this hypothesis in a column with “22 Bold Predictions” for the upcoming NBA season.

Pina predicted that the Cleveland Cavaliers will trade center Jarrett Allen midway through the season. And that Los Angeles, among other teams, has the resources to sign him.

Lakers received: All

Cleveland receives: D'Angelo Russell, Christian Wood, two first-round picks, one from Knecht/Rui Hachimura

Allen is completing his eighth career season and fourth as a member of the Cavaliers. In 77 regular-season appearances last year, he averaged 16.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

He and Davis would make for a nearly impassable Lakers defense, with both bigs able to get around the rim. As the Cavaliers continue to invest in Evan Mobley, whose NBA future is in focus, maximizing Allen's value seems imperative.

Pina: Lakers are building a “menacing defense” with Allen and Davis

Pina's argument for the Lakers going all-in is the defensive advantage of an Allen/Davis frontcourt.

“Place issues aside, if the Lakers did this they would immediately have one of the two or three most threatening defenses in the Western Conference,” Pina wrote on Oct. 21. “Allen is a mobile giant who can move along the sidelines and glide quickly from the weakside to contesting at the rim.”

He also argued that Davis was better than Mobley and could help maximize Allen's abilities.

“Next to Anthony Davis (one of the few big men alive who is a better defender than Mobley and someone who doesn't want to spend the rest of his career messing around on the field), Allen could be incredible with his offensive ability “There is Nothing to be angry about either,” Pina continued. “He’s a dunk machine that catches lobs and produces some of the best scores in the league.”

If there's one thing you don't like about an Allen/Davis frontcourt, it's the spacing. None of the big men are shooting league-average from behind the arc, which would hurt floor generals Austin Reaves and Gabe Vincent.

Halfcourt congestion is a weakness that almost always surfaces in the playoffs. And that assumes Los Angeles survives the Western Conference gauntlet. They finished 47-35 last season and finished eighth in the conference standings.

D'Angelo Russell the strange man in LA

Neither Russell nor the Lakers seem interested in continuing their partnership. The 11-year guard left Los Angeles no choice when he picked up his $18 million player option after previous reports suggested he would seek free agency.

That doesn't mean the Lakers have to keep him. And that doesn't mean Russell wants to be in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old took the guaranteed money with the plan to enter free agency again next summer and remain eligible as a trade chip.

Russell had a solid performance in the regular season last year: 18 points, 6.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game on an above-average shooting distribution of 45/41/82. But his performance slumped in the playoffs for the second year in a row. He scored just 14.2 points per game on 38/31/50 shooting in the five-game loss to the Denver Nuggets.

As the 2024-2025 regular season begins, look for Russell's name to continue popping up in the rumor mill. He and the Lakers have almost no mutual interest in a future together, and his salary is running out on top of that.

Collin Loring covers the NBA, WNBA and MLB for Heavy.com, where he has been a writer since 2021. His sports reporting has also been featured on FanSided, Elite Sports NY and The Strickland. More about Collin Loring