deal confirmed : 6 trades Lakers must consider before their season slips away

 

 

 

In a series events surely no one could’ve seen coming, the same flawed Los Angeles Lakers roster from the 2023-24 season that started 10-7 has started this season 10-7 (now 11-7 after beating the San Antonio Spurs) — only with a significantly worse point differential. Replacing Darvin Ham with JJ Redick is probably going to wind up a net-positive move, but as of right now, as has been the case from the beginning, the idea that a rookie coach would step in and immediately turn last year’s mediocre team into anything significantly more than that is insane.

 

Historically, Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka would sit back and wait for prices to come down before making a move. Waiting also gives him time to figure out if a team is worth investing in so as to give them a chance at getting over the hump.

(Quick sidebar: The problem with this line of thinking is if that was always his stance on things, he wouldn’t have traded Russell Westbrook midseason for D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, let alone the early-season trade for Rui Hachimura. All the Lakers did that year was rally and make a Western Conference Finals)

 

This season, however, Pelinka may not have that luxury. L.A. currently sits sixth in the West. Only they and the Phoenix Suns currently hold negative point differentials, though Phoenix’s can be explained by Kevin Durant’s lengthy absence. They’ve lost three in a row and if they continue to slide, Pelinka might once again explain an idle trade deadline away with the fact that there’s just too much that needs to be done to fix this roster.

 

Could you imagine taking your car to a dealership for an oil change, only to find out they put sand in your engine instead, thus considering your car “totaled” and telling you that you needed to buy a new car? There are laws against this type of thing, thank goodness, but it’s essentially what Pelinka has done on more than one occasion as the lead basketball decision-maker.