If you are one of those Los Angeles Lakers fans that is addicted to refreshing X every morning hoping for a big trade update, do yourself a favor, as you might want to cool off for a bit.

Four of their players can’t be moved until December 15. That means any big shake-up is probably not happening anytime soon.

Lakers’ trade flexibility is frozen until December 15

According to Hoops Rumors, those names include Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, and Jake LaRavia, three guys new to this team. Jaxson Hayes, who re-signed this summer after spending the last couple seasons there already, is on the list too.

Those four guys are all currently off-limits due to league rules that restrict recently signed players from being traded until mid-December. So for now, the Lakers’ hands are tied.

That leaves the front office in a bit of a bind. They can still make calls, of course, but without those four names on the table, the options are slim. There are some other tradable options.

Sure, Austin Reaves is movable, and his contract situation could make that tempting. He will be a free agent next summer, and according to Sam Vecenie of The Game Theory Podcast, he will most likely command a deal well north of $100 million, which the Lakers might not be able to match. 

When it comes to trading Reaves now, it would be risky. He is one of the few dependable guards on the roster, and moving him just to avoid losing him for nothing later could backfire.

Dalton Knecht is another name floating around trade ideas for quite a while, but unfortunately his value is not exactly peaking. After a rough NBA 2K26 Summer League, the most you could get out of him is maybe a couple of second-rounders unless, of course, he is part of a larger package.

Other than that? There is really not much else to work with. The Lakers have six second-round picks and two firsts, though one could fall into the second round depending on how the lottery plays out in that year.

Rui Hachimura has real value as a two-way forward, but he fills a need Los Angeles can’t afford to create again. As for LeBron James? Unless he asks out, a trade is not even a conversation. If he were to ask for one, moving on from his contract would be extremely hard to navigate.

All of this points to one thing: barring a surprise move, Lakers fans probably will not see anything big happen until mid-December. That may be okay.

The front office made several calculated offseason moves. Now they will wait, evaluate, and reassess when the time is right. Until then, this is the roster. Might as well settle in and see what it can do.