Big trade is unlikely for Lakers

The trade deadline is two weeks from today, meaning 14 more days of rumors and whispers, but the Lakers are not expected to be big players in the market.

They have the NBA’s second-best record, the league’s highest payroll and do not plan on moving any of their starters or sixth man Lamar Odom.

“There is no compelling reason to dramatically change this team, in particular its core,” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “We won a championship last year and we feel like we can be as strong this year with the one change we made -- the Ron Artest change.

“If this is the team we go into the playoffs with, we’ll be happy with our roster, provided we stay healthy. The caveat, as always, is we’ll look at roster flexibility and areas where we can tweak the roster.”

In other words, Toronto forward Chris Bosh will not be wearing a Lakers uniform this month despite persistent rumors.

If the Lakers make a move by Feb. 18, it probably will be to shore up their depth at ball-handling guard, with an eye toward the future.

Derek Fisher is 35 years old and in the last year of a contract that pays him $5 million this season. Jordan Farmar will become a restricted free agent after this season and Shannon Brown can opt out of a contract that pays him $2.15 million next season, a likely possibility given his improvement this season.

Realistically, the Lakers might not have a point guard on their roster once free agency begins July 1, though they retain the right to match an offer sheet to Farmar and can pay Brown more than any other team.

Chicago guard Kirk Hinrich, 29, is an intriguing possibility, but he has two more seasons on his contract for a total of $17 million.

The Lakers currently have a $93.1-million payroll, are on pace to shell out another $21.4 million in luxury taxes, and don’t want to acquire salary beyond this season unless they can also unload salary off next season’s payroll, which currently stands at $83.7 million toward only eight players.

The Lakers wouldn’t be trade partners with the Bulls unless Chicago takes back salary on next season’s payroll, an unlikely event because the Bulls are trying to get as far under the salary cap as possible to pursue a big-name free agent this summer.

For the Lakers, reserve guard Sasha Vujacic has one more season after this at $5.5 million and reserve forward Luke Walton has three more seasons at a total of $16.7 million. Reserve forward Adam Morrison is in the final year of a contract that pays him $5.3 million this season.

The Lakers typically don’t do deals at the trade deadline.

They acquired Pau Gasol two years ago on Feb. 1, more than two weeks before the deadline, but before that hadn’t made a February trade since acquiring George McCloud from New Jersey in 1997.

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