The Los Angeles Lakers are on the clock, and fans wonder why they haven’t added anyone since the start of free agency.

The short answer is that they can’t, not at their projected roster and salary level.

As the Lakers stand—in large part due to the player options they gave to Cam Reddish, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes last year—they will have a full roster of 15 regular contracts once LeBron James and Max Christie officially re-sign.

LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that the four-time MVP was open to taking less than his max salary if it enable the Lakers to sign an “impact player” such as Klay Thompson, James Harden and Jonas Valančiūnas. With all three off the board, James agreed to a two-year, $104 million max contract Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, although he’s willing to take slightly less to keep the Lakers below the $188.9 million second apron.

Outside of two-way contracts, the Lakers no longer have the roster space to add anyone. Even if they did, they could only offer minimum-salary contracts to free agents.

The Lakers also can’t take back more salary in a trade than they send out without getting hard-capped at the $178.1 million first apron, and they’d be hard-capped at the second apron if they aggregate two or more contracts in a trade. Competing executives are aware of those restrictions and are eager to take advantage of the Lakers if they come calling for a deal.

We’ve come up with five suggestions on how the Lakers might navigate these treacherous waters to safe harbor, though the price may be higher than they’re willing to pay.

The Portland Trail Blazers are still in the early stages of their post-Damian Lillard rebuilding process. Jerami Grant has four more years and $132.4 million left on his contract. While that isn’t a toxic deal, it’s not very friendly in the NBA’s new economy given his age (30).

Robert Williams III hasn’t been consistently healthy for some time, and his two-season deal has between $25.7-28.9 million left on it. The 26-year-old would be a solid upside play for the Lakers, but he’s only potentially available because of his lack of durability.

Both would fill needs as big, capable defenders, although Grant has primarily been a scorer since leaving the Denver Nuggets for the Detroit Pistons in 2020.

A combination of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Christian Wood would be enough salary to bring back Grant and Williams without trigging a first-apron hard cap, though the Lakers would be hard-capped. That could require James to take about $4-17 million below the max, though.

Are the Blazers eager enough to trade Grant and Williams that they’d take the expiring contracts of Russell and Wood, a second-year player who isn’t healthy enough to play in summer league after back surgery (Hood-Schifino) and a young, talented player in Hachimura at $35.3 million over two seasons? Or would Portland try to extract draft compensation from L.A. in a deal?

The Blazers have time on their side with Malcolm Brogdon going to the Washington Wizards for Deni Avdija. They’re no longer in danger of paying luxury taxes for a rebuilding roster.

Still, getting out of big contracts may hold some appeal to them.

DeMar DeRozan—a mid-range scorer who isn’t a high-volume three-point shooter—would not be the best fit on the Lakers. However, he’s arguably the best available free agent left.

DeRozan almost joined the Lakers in the ill-fated summer of 2021, when L.A. instead chose to trade nearly all of its depth for Russell Westbrook. Even three years later, the 34-year-old DeRozan is one of the more talented scorers in the league. He isn’t the ideal player to pair with Anthony Davis and James since all three prefer to score in some of the same areas on the court, but he’d have been a better choice than Westbrook.

Since James is taking his max salary, the Lakers are now too far over the first apron to have access to the $12.8 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception without shedding major salary elsewhere. The Lakers could try to arrange a sign-and-trade for DeRozan, but that would require the Chicago Bulls’ participation, and DeRozan would need to sign a three-year deal.

Perhaps the Bulls would expand a trade to include center Nikola Vučević, with the Lakers sending Russell, Hachimura, Hood-Schifino and Wood to Chicago. The Bulls would likely want additional compensation, such as a first-round pick, which may cause the Lakers to hesitate.

But if James, DeRozan and the Bulls are willing to do it, and the Lakers are pursuing a win-now path, getting two viable starters from the Bulls could make sense.

The Utah Jazz don’t appear eager to trade Lauri Markkanen, but they’re far from competing at a high level. They could use some of their cap room this offseason to renegotiate and extend his contract, which could also help raise his future trade value.

The Lakers likely can’t entice the Jazz into a deal without including their two future first-round picks (2029 and 2031). Utah is thought to have a passing interest in Hachimura, but young players such as Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis don’t move the needle.

Would (or should) the Lakers give up future picks so far down the road? If their current window with James and Davis is all that matters, maybe they believe that’s the best path.

Markkanen’s contract ($18.0 million) should make a deal even more appealing. Since the Jazz are under the cap, they could help the Lakers offload contracts en masse. How about Russell, Hachimura, Lewis, Hood-Schifino, Wood and Reddish into Utah’s cap room, plus the picks?

That’s quite the reset, and the Lakers still might still the flexibility to chase DeRozan via sign-and-trade without giving the Bulls any contracts back (though Chicago would need some form of compensation). If Los Angeles filled out the rest of its roster with minimum players, James would need to take about $7-9 million below his max to make DeRozan work in addition to Markkanen.

The Lakers would have great speed but a dynamic offensive starting five of Austin Reaves, James, Davis, Markkanen and DeRozan. New head coach JJ Redick’s main focus would be finding a defensive scheme for that personnel. The Lakers could try to re-sign Spencer Dinwiddie they need a guard to replace Russell.

Instead of focusing on the return, the Lakers’ best move may be to give up cash and/or second-round picks to offload as many unneeded players as possible.

The Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons or Jazz could absorb those players into their cap space. Any team—even those without cap room—can take on minimum contracts like Wood or Reddish without having to match salaries. The Brooklyn Nets are one of many teams with prominent enough trade exceptions to give the Lakers necessary relief.

In addition, L.A. needs to open roster space and keep its payroll low enough so replacements don’t all come out of James’ pocket.

Plenty of value free agents are still available, with some proper pro personnel scouting. But if the Lakers’ goal is to get a big-name player like DeRozan, who may not be the perfect fit, dumping salaries without pushing them onto the Bulls may make that a more viable option.

Riding it out with the roster as currently constructed may not be the option that most Lakers fans prefer, but it may be Occam’s razor.

The Lakers fired former head coach Darvin Ham in part because they didn’t think he maximized the roster’s talent last season. Redick is a first-time coach, but the team believes he’s the right man for the job. It was just 2023 when Los Angeles advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a roster similar to today’s.

If Redick proves to be an excellent coach, the Lakers have a lot of what they need to compete at a high level if healthy. What they’re missing is size up front to combat Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets.

Guard defense is an issue, but the team is reinvesting in Christie, who showed promise when given the opportunity. Bronny James’ primary NBA skill is on defense, too. The Lakers also added shooting in rookie Dalton Knecht while losing Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie, assuming they don’t make trades before the season.

The Lakers could look to improve ahead of the February trade deadline, but only in deals that reduce salary. Given their current lack of leverage, perhaps none of the deals that we proposed here are available. Waiting for a better opportunity may be the best path forward.

Since James chose to sign a two-year deal with the second-year player option, the Lakers could always hold onto their draft assets and start thinking about a post-James team if there’s no clear way to bolster this squad’s chances by the deadline.