Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers’ season is teetering on the brink of disaster.
Anthony Davis went down with a stress injury in his foot on Dec. 16, and after barely defeating the Washington Wizards in their first full game without him, the Lakers have lost four in a row.
Their defense, which was already suspect, has fallen apart, and head coach Darvin Ham has gone with some very small and questionable lineups.
Fans have been clamoring for a big trade going back to last season, but if the team doesn’t turn things around soon and figure out how to win more than half of its games without Davis, would it even be worth it to make such a trade?
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, that is the mindset the Lakers front office seems to have right now.
Via The Athletic:
“Reinforcements via trade would obviously help, and the Lakers are still evaluating their options on a dormant trade market. At the same time, it becomes increasingly challenging to justify trading a first-round pick if the group continues to struggle. The front office doesn’t want to compound its previous mistakes with more win-now moves.”
Perhaps the team’s most valued assets on the open market are their 2027 and 2029 first-round draft picks. Trading such picks to get help would only seem to make sense if it would put a team over the top in terms of championship contention, a la last season’s Los Angeles Rams, who won the Super Bowl.
The Lakers, when healthy, may still have the NBA’s best superstar duo in Davis and LeBron James, but they have sizeable holes elsewhere, especially frontcourt depth. Would one or two available trades in the next several weeks plug those holes enough to make them very competitive?
Or is it time to punt this season and start preparing for the next one, or even the next several?
