Lakers trading trend: Wiggins, Hachimura becomes the key chip

On September 28, Lakers reporter Jovan Buha broke the news in a podcast that there was a secret behind the Lakers and the Heat’s trade negotiations about Wiggins. Pelinka responded to the renewal of Hachimura, and may put pressure on the Heat to urge Riley to push the deal as soon as possible.

In the past two and a half years, Hachimura has gained a foothold in the Lakers' rotation lineup with its stable performance. Now that his contract is about to expire, his outstanding offensive skills package makes him a hot deal in the league. It is reported that in the trading negotiations between the Lakers and the Heat about Wiggins, Hachimura has been regarded as an important bargaining chip by the Lakers.

The Heat are also quite interested in Hachimura. However, the Heat asked the Lakers to provide draft picks as additional conditions in the negotiations, causing the dialogue between the two sides to fall into a deadlock. But the Lakers did not give up introducing Wiggins. Buha believes that the Lakers may use Hachimura to renew the contract as "leverage" to force the Heat to act as soon as possible.

From the perspective of negotiation strategy, Ruo Lakers' management publicly stated that "we are considering renewing the contract with Hachimura", which is of great significance. After all, from the salary matching level, Hachimura is the core bargaining chip in trading Wiggins. In this way, the Lakers seem to be conveying to the Heat: "If you want to get Hachimura, get rid of the extra year of Wiggins' contract, and recognize that Hachimura and Wiggins are equal or even better, then hurry up and make a deal. Otherwise, we will renew Hachimura next month, and you will miss the opportunity." Once the Lakers renew Hachimura, he will not be able to be traded for at least six months, and this "untrading period" will even cross the NBA trading deadline on February 6, 2026. If things go like this, the Heat will have to continue holding the Wiggins contract for one year.

U.S. media believes that the Lakers' offseason operations are underestimated. They signed Ayton, Smart and Laravia in free agent markets to fill multiple vacancies and not use core trading assets. However, there are still hidden dangers in the depth of the Lakers lineup. Smart has a serious injury history and the team urgently needs to add to the outside defense vanguard. If you can successfully trade and get Wiggins, it is undoubtedly an excellent choice. Wiggins is competent for defensive tasks in multiple positions and has good offensive strength. In addition, Wiggins is athletic and very compatible with Doncic. If he joins, he will immediately become the team's starter. The Lakers can also flexibly arrange him to play at the same time as Smart according to the opponent's lineup.

At present, in addition to Wiggins, the Lakers also list Kamara and Seble as potential targets, but in terms of the current situation, the possibility of these two transactions is relatively low. Every step in the Lakers' trading market touches the hearts of fans. Whether Wiggins can join and where Hachimura will eventually go is full of suspense. Let's wait and see whether the Lakers can further optimize their lineup through clever operations and achieve good results in the new season.