Lakers Recent Disappointments Only Fuel More Trade Speculation, Need for More Superstars

There’s no way to hide it. The Lakers are a team with issues. They don’t have a strong identity, lack a deep bench, and are far too reliant on their stars to carry them through tight games. Despite that, the season is far from over. There’s plenty of contests left, and still a few weeks before the trade deadline.

Los Angeles is fully aware of both of those factors, and with trade rumors heating up both inside and outside the organization, many in the NBA are wondering if they plan on making a move before their window closes.

Clippers vs Lakers at Crypto.com Arena - Anthony Davis & Kawhi Leonard

The franchise is known for big players, but not necessarily big in season trades. Most of what they do happens in the offseason where they can better evaluate the NBA landscape and see what the markets look like.

However, this roster is different from past years. Where the Lakers have been content having a few losing seasons in order to make draft picks and use excess cap space to sign big stars, right now they don’t have the luxury of time.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are both on the tailend of their career, which means the Lakers need to act quickly if they want another ring with the pair still in town.

A Cry for Help

The Lakers, even with their starpower, are simply not a team that can compete at the top of the NBA. Their most recent loss to the Clippers showed that, and revealed how quickly they can get outclassed by deeper rosters.

Everyone on the staff is fully aware of that fact, especially head coach J.J. Redick. He understands the Lakers’ pressed timing, wants a ring as much as anyone, but also knows they don’t have a championship roster right now.

“We don’t have a huge margin for error,” the coach stated after the loss to the Clippers. “It has to be emphasized daily to touch the paint, the play paint-to-great mentality, make the extra pass. We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to necessarily always draw two to the ball. We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to be able to get past his guy one-on-one and get to the paint and spread it out to the perimeter.”

That comment from a head coach shows just how dire the situation has become for the team. Their superstars are doing everything in their power, but that hasn’t been enough.

If it were April or May it would be easy to call the season over and look to next year, but right now the Lakers are in the playoff hunt with the trade deadline on the horizon. Teams in the hunt still need to fight as much as they can.

A Disgruntled Star

Not surprisingly, LeBron James seems to have the same sentiment as Redick. The superstar wants a fifth ring more than anyone, and he only has so much time to get it. Waiting one more season doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but it might be too much for the future hall of famer.

The superstar echoed what Redick said, noting that the team is too one dimensional. James isn’t afraid to speak his mind to spark a trade, and that’s what he could be doing now.

“We don’t have room for error -- for much error,” he stated. “We don’t have a choice. That’s the way our team is constructed, and we have to, we have to play close-to-perfect basketball.”

Close-to-perfect basketball is not something anyone wants to hear from their team leader, nor is it something that’s sustainable for any franchise. The Lakers need to get deeper if they want to be taken seriously.

The Problem with Waiting

Unfortunately for James, many reports state the Lakers will keep in line with their past actions and stand firm at the trade deadline. They could make a move, but it would be for a small role player rather than a huge superstar. That’s not necessarily what the Lakers need now, but it might be the best they can do.

Part of that comes from cap space issues, and part of it is due to a rather weak market. Jimmy Butler is the biggest name out there, but nobody expects him to come to Los Angeles. Cameron Johnson could be a good fit, but there are many teams willing to pay more than the Lakers can afford.

That leaves Los Angeles in a tough spot. They have enough talent to get to the postseason and play some strong basketball, but they don’t have enough to make a deep run or make a real play at taking home another championship.

That limbo is unfortunate, especially for James. The King is extremely competitive, and he’ll surely be unhappy if the Lakers don’t make a move soon. While fans surely want the Lakers to act, it seems unlikely that’s going to happen.

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