The Los Angeles Lakers have the third-best odds to land Michael Porter Jr. if the Denver Nuggets are to trade him this offseason.
Online sportsbook Bovada, per NBA Central, has the Golden State Warriors as a +300 favorite to add the sweet-shooting 6-foot-10 Nuggets forward, followed by the Chicago Bulls (+400) and the Lakers. (+600).
The Orlando Magic (+700), Boston Celtics (+800), Los Angeles Clippers (+900), Portland Trailblazers (+900), Phoenix Suns (+1400) and Toronto Raptors (+1800) are also on the list.
Porter Jr. hinted at a potential shakeup in Denver after the Nuggets’ second-round loss Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Everyone in this locker room means a lot to me,” Porter said, per The Denver Post. “I’m not sure if it’ll be the same exact group next year. But whatever’s next for me, whatever’s next for this team, I know that the guys will be ready for it.”
Michael Porter Jr. is Expensive for a Non-3-and-D Wing
The Warriors are the odds-on favorites to land Michael Porter Jr. if the Denver Nuggets trade him, according to Bovada.
Porter Jr. was a non-factor in the series as he was limited by a sprained left shoulder. He averaged just 7.4 points on 32.3% field goal shooting and 25% from the 3-point line against the Thunder.
It was a far cry from his regular-season scoring average of 18.2 points on 50.4% field goal shooting and 39.5% from the 3-point line. The six-year veteran has two years left on his five-year, $207 million max deal. He is owed $79 million over the next two seasons.
The Lakers can use Porter’s size and shooting to complement their LeBron James–Luka Doncic duo. But Porter is an expensive wing who doesn’t defend well.
The Lakers have up to $70 million worth of expiring contracts to use in trade this offseason, along with their 2031 first-round pick and five pick swaps.
Rui Hachimura‘s expiring $18.3 million contract, along with salary fillers, can get a Porter Jr. deal done. However, their top priority is to look for a starting-caliber center.
Austin Reaves for Star Center?
Austin Reaves, Lakers
Austin Reaves is the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest trade chip to acquire an All-Star big man.
According to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers will only make their third star Austin Reaves available on one condition.
“[Reaves] is not viewed as “untradeable” because almost no one in the NBA is untradeable. But if the Lakers are going to trade him for a center, they’re going to want one that is foundationally important — a build-around type and not a fill-in toward the obvious need they have at center (and will need to address in other ways).
“If one of the best centers in the NBA were available, the conversations might be different, but at least now, during the first part of the offseason, that just isn’t the case,” Woike wrote in his LA Times’ Lakers newsletter on Thursday.
Reaves is eligible to sign a maximum of a four-year, $89.2 million contract this summer, which is already a huge raise from his current four-year, $54 million deal. But even that maximum extension the Lakers can offer is below his market value which is why he is expected to decline and hit unrestrictred free agency in 2026.
According to ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks, Reaves will be eligible to sign “a contract worth up to 25% of the salary cap” of the Lakers or any team with cap space in the summer of 2026. Marks added that Reaves’ first-year starting salary in that max contract would be a whopping $42.5 million.
