The Los Angeles Lakers can never escape the madness of the NBA trade deadline, especially when the team hasn't found a whole lot of success. Since their In-Season Tournament championship, the Lakers have gone 7-12, leading to various trade rumors associated with this roster. While they've improved in recent games, there is still an enormous amount of pressure being put on the Lakers' front office ahead of the trade deadline, especially since LeBron James is not getting any younger.

The idea of competing for championships while they still have James is the sole focus of the Lakers, hence why general manager Rob Pelinka is always aggressive when it comes to improving this roster. Even with trade rumors swirling around D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Austin Reaves, the Lakers handled business on Wednesday night, defeating Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks 127-110 in Los Angeles.

After the game, the recent trade rumors pertaining to the Lakers was once again the focus of discussion. James, who always seems to have a say in what the roster looks like, made it clear that he is only paying attention to his teammates and bringing out the best in them.

“I don't play fantasy basketball. What I do is focus on the guys that's here and in this uniform and show up to work every day,” James told reporters on Wednesday night, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin. “It's too disrespectful to be thinking about what we need or what we don't have. I don't do that to my teammates.”

Many tend to joke about LeBron being his team's general manager and influencing moves his team makes, but James is devoted to his teammates. The future Hall of Famer made this clear in his remark and the product the Lakers have put out on the court in recent games is a reflection of James' leadership.

Los Angeles has won four of their last six games and now have a chance to move above .500 for the first time in 2024 if they can pick up a third consecutive win on Friday night.

“We've been putting in the work and that's what we got to continue to do. We like the way we've been playing the last couple of games. We got to continue that Friday verse Brooklyn.”

Should the Lakers wind up making any moves at the trade deadline, LeBron has pointed out that he has nothing to do with it.