The Los Angeles Lakers trade plans were nonexistent from the start, as they lacked assets to make a meaningful deal on deadline day.
Finally, we’ve reached a logical conclusion. No more Lakers fans jumping into your mentions yelling “THT, Kendrick Nunn and a first!” at the top of their social media lungs. All caps or not, those assets which at this point amount to little more than a ham and cheese sandwich did not land the Lakers a three-and-D wing, or a star of any kind.
Instead, LeBron James and Co. will roll into the second half with this same corps in tact. Yes, that includes Russell Westbrook and all.
James appears rather bored with this crew, losing seven of their last 10 games including a rough effort in Portland on Wednesday night. It might not make a lot of sense, but sometimes talented teams just need a move to be made to shake things up. The Lakers, with an aging corps, perhaps could’ve used just that.
Instead, they did nothing.
ESPN, NBA media laugh at Lakers trade deadline plan
For Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson to be so open in their hilarity over the Lakers’ inability to get a deal done paints the entire picture.
Many of the Lakers’ struggles can be tied to LeBron and Anthony Davis missing significant time due to injury. With both getting healthy, perhaps they can slide out of the play-in tournament discussion down the stretch.
As things currently stand, however, Los Angeles is ninth in the Western Conference. They would face the No. 10-seeded New Orleans Pelicans, and then the winner of a Clippers-Timberwolves matchup (assuming they beat New Orleans).