What the Lakers are looking for in their offseason target revealed by NBA inside

Despite the NBA 2023-24 season being at full speed, and the Lakers finally having found their identity and gaining traction to make it to the 2024 playoffs, the front office is already looking to build a contending team for next season after they stood pat in the trade deadline and saved their first-round pick to have three available in the offseason to go after an All-Star caliber player.

The Los Angeles Lakers will reportedly scour the NBA for a “difference-making” perimeter player once the summer rolls around, this report comes via NBA insider Zach Lowe and it adds to yesterday's rumor that ESPN's Kendrick Perkins stated on a third superstar being on it's way to LA in the summer.

“The playoffs always inform the offseason,” Zach Lowe wrote. “Everything I’ve heard for five years suggests James would prefer to finish his career as a Laker. Is that absolute? Who knows. There could be some breaking point at which the Lakers fall so far that James begins to look elsewhere.

But the Lakers have one title and a conference finals appearance over the past four seasons. They will be able to trade three first-round picks this summer, and league sources expect them to search for a difference-making perimeter talent. That does not mean the [Golden State] Warriors will give up their pursuit of James.”

Trae Young is looking to be the top target for LA this summer

The Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young fits that description and being the player to be rumored to be available for a trade this summer, it seems the Lakers could land one of the targets they have been pursuing for a long time now.