Reporter urges Lakers to trade their two best young prospects

The Los Angeles Lakers are on a roll during the early part of the 2026-27 NBA season. They have an 11-2 record after defeating the Milwaukee Bucks123-112 on Wednesday, giving them the league's best record, and they have a seven-game winning streak. Their next five games are against teams that are currently under .500, which means that their win streak could continue for some time.However, there is still much work to get done before one can say with a straight face that the Lakers are true championship contenders. While their roster is strong and their bench is the best it has been in years, they still need a serviceable backup center and a starting-level two-way forward.Fans have been hoping that second-year forward Adou Thiero could develop into that starting-level two-way forward, but it is looking increasingly likely that he will top out as an energy and hustle player rather than a player who will be a true needle-mover. There are also high hopes for rookie guard Cameron Carr, but he clearly isn't ready to contribute.Trevor Lane, a reporter for Lakers Nation, said on the "Hoops Talk with Allen Sliwa" podcast that the team needs to be willing to trade Thiero and/or Carr in order to obtain that missing piece or two.“I think you got to be willing to do it, because what the Lakers need, is they don’t need Cameron Carr right now, they need Cameron Carr two years from now — they don’t need that version of Cameron Carr,” Lane said. “Adou Theiro, I think is more ready to contribute right now but you still need the two-years-from-now version of Adou Theiro right now.”Los Angeles lacks tradable draft capital -- it only has three second-round draft picks and one pick swap it can offer in a trade. That means it will have to move players in order to improve its roster, and other teams will undoubtedly ask for Thiero and/or Carr.But Lane was quick to caution that L.A. needs to be picky about which offer to pull the trigger on.“Won’t even trade him for a guy that’s a rotation player,” Lane added. “This will be ‘we are getting our locked-in starter.’ You are not trading him for a 35-year-old; you’re trading him for a guy who is 25 who can be your locked-in starter with Luka [Doncic] and Austin [Reaves] for the next five-plus years. That’s what we are talking about, you set a high bar but I think you have to be willing to listen.”In four games, Thiero is averaging 2.5 points on 40% shooting and 2.5 rebounds in 9.3 minutes a game. Carr has appeared in five games and played a total of 24 minutes, and he has scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting.It isn't an easy balance for the Lakers to work out -- they should want to develop young talent, something they haven't done much of under general manager Rob Pelinka, but the clock is ticking as far as building a true championship team around Doncic.While Doncic is 27 years of age and is likely very early in his prime, he can opt out of his contract and become a free agent in the summer of 2028. The Lakers cannot assume he will automatically re-sign with them and stick around for many years to come, and even if he does, they need to set themselves up for many consecutive years of title contention with him.This article originally appeared on Lakers Wire: Reporter urges Lakers to trade their two best young prospects