LeBron James is 0-4 to start a season for the first time since his rookie year in 2003, and according to ESPN’s Jay Williams, Rob Pelinka and the Lakers need to be contemplating a full tear-down of the roster with seemingly little hope to contend this season.
In a conversation on First Take, Williams said the Lakers have two options moving forward. The first, more likely move would be to acquire a legitimate shooter via trade to try to salvage the season – though that may not be enough to put the Lakers into actual contention.
Williams’ other option is far more drastic: trade away LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook for as many assets as you can compile, and start to plan for the future.
“Either Rob Pelinka and and company, they’re going to blank or get off the pot…. Either you trade the picks that you have – 2027, 2029 – for the likes of Buddy Hield. Maybe you get a big, work another deal. Try to insert some kind of energy before the trade deadline.
Or just go ahead and start clean. Trade LeBron James. Trade Anthony Davis. Trade Russell Westbrook. Now, you can think I’m crazy for saying ‘trade all three,’ but you can’t realistically look at me and say ‘OK, if we do trade LeBron James, we are going to believe in Anthony Davis to carry the torch for this team. I watched him get grazed last night by Nikola Jokic, and I got worried. I got concerned that I thought he was going to be out the entire game because of his back.”
