It's no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers' Achilles heel is perimeter shooting. In the three-point driven meta of today's NBA, the Lakers are lagging behind. On a nightly basis, the Lakers are making the least amount of triples at 9.7 per game, with the second-worst percentage in the entire association, behind only the New York Knicks. Simply put, if the Lakers were to maximize LeBron James' remaining playing days, they will need to remedy this situation as soon as possible.
Speaking on FanDuel TV, Shams Charania revealed that the Lakers will remain strategic even if their level of urgency increases the more they lose ground in the Western Conference standings.
“There's a strategic level of urgency. They really have two pathways. One is trying to trade and go around the fringes with Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn with probably at least one first round pick like they tried to do with Bojan Bogdanovic in Detroit. Other than that, there aren't really a great amount of targets. [Nonetheless,] they’re gonna prioritize shooting on the marketplace,” Charania said.
"They’re gonna prioritize shooting on the marketplace…They don't wanna trade their 2 first-round picks, there's not really a star player available as of yet."@ShamsCharania chimes in on the Lakers trade plans.
(via @FanDuelTV)pic.twitter.com/pgKaVkBTHr
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 14, 2022
Charania named other options the Lakers could target, including Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier, which has already been covered in great detail. Nevertheless, the Lakers appear likelier to pull off a smaller trade rather than a blockbuster centered on Russell Westbrook's expiring contract.
“They don't wanna trade their 2 first-round picks, there's not really a star player available as of yet,” Charania added.
One thing's for sure, they will need to do something. LeBron James cannot be the team's leader in three-point makes per game. Moreover, only two players currently in the rotation (Lonnie Walker IV and Austin Reaves) are shooting a better than league average percentage from deep.
And with the crucial December 15 date is looming, perhaps the Lakers would pull off a trade by then.