Will the Lakers make any more trades before the trade deadline?
After losing out to the Mavs in the Kyrie Irving trade coup of the season, it is unlikely that the Lakers will be able to top it. But not impossible.
Every season the NBA trade deadline swings between hot and not. So far, the Lakers were left in the lurch when the Dallas Mavericks pulled off what is the trade coup of the season in nabbing Kyrie Irving from Brooklyn.
This left the Lakers holding Russell Westbrook, the perfect trade partner for Irving, and no viable suitors on the horizon.
With the trade deadline fast approaching, it looks like the nearly year-long wait for a scoring partner alongside LeBron James may push into the summer.
The truth is that this Lakers team is not very good. LeBron and Anthony Davis are having outstanding seasons, as you would expect them to, but without those two guys, this LA team might be one of the worst in the NBA. Even with them, they are only mediocre, at best.
The Lakers need a playmaker who can partner them at the baseline and they have very little trade capital to work with.
Los Angeles may have a deal in the works to get Westbrook off their books. Reportedly, the Jazz are lining something up that would see Los Angeles get several players for him and first round picks. It is unclear what the deal would look like, but the Lakers would likely ask for Mike Conley, Malik Beasley, Jordan Clarkson, and Jarred Vanderbilt.
In the end, it may be too big a deal to get done in a short time frame, and my gut feeling is that the Lakers will simply hold onto Westbrook and muddle through. But while it is unlikely that a deal will come about, nothing is impossible.