As the NBA trade deadline came to an end, the Los Angeles Lakers now find themselves in a tough predicament. Various trade scenarios for All-NBA and All-Star Anthony Davis were publicly reported by ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski. Players from the Lakers franchise were in a state of disbelief as their names were swirling in many reports.
Davis’ agent Rich Paul made it clear to the Pelicans that he wanted to be traded, but the Pelicans had no intent on trading him immediately. With missing the opportunity to trade for Anthony Davis, the Lakers next hope is to try again in the offseason.
However, the Lakers did make a couple of moves before the trade deadline. With their primary issue being not shooting the basketball efficiently enough, they bolstered their shooting by trading for Reggie Bullock and Mike Muscala.
The Lakers also opened up a roster spot where they can now sign players who have been bought out of their contracts from their teams. Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers have shown interest in signing Carmelo Anthony with that open slot.
The Lakers were playing great basketball the first half of the season, racking up wins before injuries to key players like LeBron James, Rajon Rondo and Lonzo Ball. This lead the team to drastically drop from the fourth seed to now tied for the tenth seed in the Western Conference and out of playoff contention.
The struggles continue as they are 3-7 out of their last ten games. With all their first-half injuries, and now team morale issues from trade talks, the Lakers playoff chances look bleak.
ESPN’s NBA Basketball Power Index (BPI) ranks all NBA teams according to their team strength and projects chances on making the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers have a miniscule 3.1% chance on making the playoffs, according to the BPI.
The pressure is now on James as he is back from injury and now tries to find a way to lead this young team to the playoffs. James is no stranger to this situation as he has not missed the playoffs since 2005, but this predicament calls to question if the struggling young Lakers core is simply too much of a burden for him to carry.
