The trade deadline has passed and as always, it did not fail to disappoint. There was a flurry of moves around the league that could potentially re-shape the rest of the season and similar to years past, a handful of teams made big moves to bolster their squad for what lies ahead. One glaring absentee from Thursday's festivities, however, was the Los Angeles Lakers.
Somehow, the Lakers failed to make a splash in the trade market. As a matter of fact, they did not even make a single ripple. It wasn't for a lack of trying, though, with reports now emerging that LA attempted to trade for the likes of Dennis Schroder, Goran Dragic, and Alec Burks, to name a few.
Schroder was able to revive his career with the Boston Celtics after a forgettable season with the Lakers last season. So much so, that LA apparently tried to bring him back to Hollywood:
“Right now, the deals the Lakers are really looking at are around the fringes,” said NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski (h/t Jonathan Sherman of Lakers Daily). “Players like Alec Burks in New York. Dennis Schroder in Boston. Any number of role players, fringe starters that they might be able to cobble together the assets to get.”
Schroder eventually made his way to the Houston Rockets right before the deadline (along with Enes Freedom) in a deal that saw Daniel Theis return to Boston.
As Woj mentioned above, Alec Burks was another name that was linked to the Lakers. The veteran wing could have provided some much-needed firepower for LA, and apparently, the Knicks were willing to deal the 30-year-old (h/t Marc Berman of the New York Post):
The Lakers have expressed interest in swingman Alec Burks as Knicks management tries to clear a spot for Cam Reddish.
Finally, point guard Goran Dragic was another player that the Lakers attempted to trade for. The Raptors eventually struck a deal with the Spurs, sending Dragic to San Antonio in exchange for Thaddeus Young. Clearly, Toronto did not like whatever offer LA had for them.
Windhorst now mentioning on First Take that the Lakers did talk to the Raptors about Goran Dragic https://t.co/VH25SPXamP
— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) February 10, 2022
Let's not forget that the biggest name the Lakers missed out on was John Wall. This botched trade would have reportedly sent Russell Westbrook back to the Rockets in exchange for Wall and Christian Wood. Again, LA failed to make anything happen in that respect. Wall is no longer the superstar he once was, but at least this deal would have allowed the Lakers to move on from Russ. The addition of Wood would have further increased the logjam at the center position for LA, but at least this deal would have allowed the Lakers to move on from Russ.
We can all only speculate as to how and why the Lakers were unable to make any moves before the deadline. However, what we can say with a certain level of certainty is that based on what we've seen from this current lineup, it's going to be a very tough next few months for LeBron James and Co.
If you caught a glimpse of Wednesday's humiliating defeat at the hands of an extremely shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers side, you could have sworn that the Lakers were going to make a big move prior to the deadline. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and now they have no other choice but to try and make this current lineup work.
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