While the Phoenix Suns are in the midst of a breakout campaign, poised to make the playoffs in the Western Conference despite some preseason prognosticators giving them a 1.5% of doing so, a rival is lurking.
In the Pacific Division, both the Suns and Los Angeles Lakers — separated by 1.5 games in the standings — are not considered serious championship contenders in 2026.
The Suns are viewed merely as a plucky underdog who plays hard, while the Lakers are seen as having too many defensive deficiencies (around and including stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James) to compete for a title. Neither is in a bad place, but more needs to be accomplished before either can compete with the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder on a consistent basis.
The Suns are staring down an offseason that will see breakout point guard Collin Gillespie and trade acquisition Mark Williams hit free agency, creating serious questions of who the front office wants to bring back — and how.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are gearing up to have enormous financial flexibility this summer.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin broke it all down in a recent article, noting that a quiet trade deadline for the Lakers (as it was for the Suns) could tee up “an explosive offseason.”
Suns must prepare for potentially massive offseason from division rival
The Lakers this coming summer are set to have roughly $51 million in cap space, per McMenamin citing ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks.
James and Rui Hachimura will have their contracts come off the books, a calculated choice by the Lakers to embrace financial flexibility over bringing in long-term money at the trade deadline.
"I would say we were aggressive," Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said, per McMenamin. "And one form of being aggressive is saying no to moves that come your way that might not be best for the short- and long-term future. That's like being aggressive, even though you end up doing nothing,” he said.
Aggressively doing nothing is easy joke fodder for the Lakers fan base, but if it sets up an offseason where LA is willing to spend and bring in talents around Doncic who complement his style of play? That’s not an ideal scenario for a Suns team on the rise.
Of course, the financial flexibility in LA is contingent upon LeBron’s future, which could very much be up in the air.
"The first thing they have to do is move off LeBron," an Eastern Conference front office executive said, according to McMenamin. "Let him walk and use the space to retool around Luka.”
The oddsmakers are already speculating that a reunion with the Cleveland Cavaliers could be in James’ future before he hangs up his sneakers for good. McMenamin reports that the Lakers would welcome James back, but that “his salary would be a major factor in determining exactly what kind of team L.A. could build.”
McMenamin laid out various potential targets and scenarios, but it all seems to point back to the superstar who ultimately wasn’t moved ahead of this year’s trade deadline: Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He reports that Giannis, no surprise, is the “big prize” the Lakers hope to land. He writes that the Lakers could begin offers for the Bucks star during the offseason with three first-round picks.
And because the Lakers would potentially have newfound salary cap space, it would be easier from Milwaukee’s end as they could embrace a true franchise reset without having to deal Giannis for a similar contract like Karl-Anthony Towns from the New York Knicks, as an example.
Suns fans know all too well that star players tend to find their way to La La Land. Moving on from James, now on the wrong side of 40, to retool around Doncic makes sense — and the Lakers will have the financial flexibility to do just that.
Maybe Antetokounmpo will remain with the Bucks through the summer and beyond, but the Lakers are certainly primed for an aggressive offseason of not doing nothing if they choose.