The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to move on from The Vandalorian.
The Lakers have expressed a willingness to trade veteran forward Jarred Vanderbilt, Khobi Price of The New York Post reported on Wednesday. Price adds that the Lakers would like some more roster-building flexibility and that Vanderbilt is also a potential option to head back to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a sign-and-trade deal for Jonathan Kuminga (whom the Lakers are actively targeting).
Vanderbilt, 27, is one of the longest-tenured players still left on the Lakers. A 6-foot-8 power forward, Vanderbilt has been with the team since 2023.
But Vanderbilt’s production for the Lakers has progressively been tailing off. Though defense is Vanderbilt’s calling card, he is such a liability on offense (averaging 4.4 points per game last season on 47/29/59 shooting splits) that he becomes entirely unplayable in certain matchups.
Vanderbilt also causes problems with his inability to stay healthy. He has appeared in just 156 total games over his three-and-a-half seasons with the Lakers and most recently suffered a very gruesome finger injury during the team’s second-round playoff loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder this year.
Owed $12.4 million next season with a $13.3 million player option for 2027-28 as well, Vanderbilt is no longer worth the price of admission for the Lakers. Now he may be joining the likes of LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard, Deandre Ayton, and Jaxson Hayes as members of the 2025-26 team who will all be playing elsewhere next year.
