Jan. 29, 2026, 12:19 a.m. PT

With the NBA’s Feb. 5 trade deadline approaching, time is starting to run out for the Los Angeles Lakers to make a move and upgrade their roster for the rest of this season.

They have been looking for a viable 3-and-D player on the market, but they don’t have many tradable assets, and they’re less than $1 million under the first apron of the salary cap, a threshold they would be hard-capped at if they surpassed.

Herbert Jones of the New Orleans Pelicans and Keon Ellis of the Sacramento Kings have been linked to the Lakers as players they would like to acquire, with Trey Murphy III of the Pelicans also mentioned as more of a dream target. According to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, the team has three additional targets right now.

“From talking to NBA executives and scouts who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, the most likely scenario for the Lakers is to make moves along the margins,” Turner wrote as far as L.A.’s most likely trade scenario in the coming days. “NBA people say the Lakers are looking for big wing players, but so is most of the league.

“According to some of those NBA folks, the names that have been attached to the Lakers as potential trade targets are Dallas’ Naji Marshall, a former Doncic teammate, Cleveland’s De’Andre Hunter, Minnesota’s Donte DiVincenzo and Sacramento’s Keon Ellis. New Orleans’ Troy Murphy III and Herbert Jones are two players the Lakers have shown some interest in — as have many other teams — but NBA people say the asking price is so high that teams are waiting to see if that comes down by the deadline next week.”

Of those players, Hunter may be at the top of the Lakers’ wish list, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

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“The Cavs want value back that they sent out to get Hunter from the [Atlanta] Hawks,” Siegel said on Clutch Scoops. “It doesn’t seem like they’re going to get that, and since then, we’ve heard directly from sources that the Cavaliers are actively discussing trades involving Hunter, and he’s likely to be on the move in the coming week. One of the teams we keep hearing in connection to De’Andre Hunter, and it makes a lot of sense given their need for a three-and-D wing ever since the offseason, is the Los Angeles Lakers.”

Hunter’s shooting splits are down this season, but he has historically been an athletic two-way player and a reliable 3-point shooter in six previous seasons. Marshall, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward, isn’t a good 3-point shooter, but he’s averaging 14.7 points on 54.4% field-goal shooting this season. DiVincenzo, a 6-foot-4 guard, is putting up 13.3 points a game and hitting 38.1% of his 3-point attempts this season.

According to at least one report, New Orleans is not looking to move either Jones or Murphy anytime soon. It remains to be seen if that stance changes over the next week.