The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the teams looked at as active participants when the trade window opens and their approach was dissected by experts as the date nears.
ESPN’S Ramona Shelburne shared her two cents on how Los Angeles would look at the situation, especially after their resurgence led by Anthony Davis and LeBron James following the dismal 0-5 start to the season.
Speaking to Malika Andrews and ex-Laker Matt Barnes on NBA Today, Shelburne felt the Lakers may take the route of playing the waiting game (via Sports Illustrated)
“I think because they’ve gotten some wins — and there’s so much parity in the Western Conference — they don’t feel that sense of urgency [to trade]. And frankly, I don’t know if they should at this point. They’ve played well when they’ve been healthy. And they’ve been a lot healthier, you’ve seen some growth in the last few games. Now granted, they were playing some bad teams, and teams that were not necessarily gonna be playoff teams.”
The journalist’s comments on the team’s health came before Davis and James missed the clash against the Toronto Raptors. Prior to the 126-113 defeat, the Lakers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers resulting in a bit of a stumble after stitching a string of wins.
Ramona Shelburne Sheds Light On The Los Angeles Lakers’ Strategy
The Lakers made an early move by waiving Matt Ryan to create an open slot on their roster, suggesting that they were keen on perhaps adding another shooter who could bolster the offense apart from James and Davis.
Over the last couple of weeks, there have been some major speculations doing the rounds. The front office was reportedly in talks with the Chicago Bulls for a potential DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic trade. News of LA being involved in discussions with the New York Knicks was also reported. However, nothing has been concrete at the time of writing.
Shelburne felt that the Lakers were perhaps looking at other franchises to make the first move:
“My sense from talking to people around the league is they are not necessarily motivated right now to go do something big, unless something big presented itself to them. They’re waiting for their phone to ring, rather than to call [other teams].”
She added:
“The idea before was they needed to have another ball handler, they needed somebody else to create besides LeBron James,” Shelburne offered. “That guy might be Dennis Schröder. He’s been playing really well since he’s come back, Russell Westbrook is established on that second unit.”
All things considered, the Lakers cannot play the waiting game past a certain point. They have set the ball rolling by opening up a spot, and only time will tell if they indeed blow it up or pull off a brilliant move that makes the Purple and Gold instant title contenders.
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