The Los Angeles Lakers are not looking like a steady ship this season. While they did have an encouraging 2 game win streak in the last week, they have fallen right back to old habits with back-to-back losses in their last 2 outings. The problem is clearly not Russell Westbrook, who’s proven he can contribute in LA while coming off the bench.
With Westbrook’s contract finally expiring at the end of the season, the man will be able to pick his own team for a far smaller salary. Until then, the Lakers could trade Westbrook away, but the price of attaching 2 future first-round picks is too high for them. According to Bill Simmons, trading the Lakers’ other star Anthony Davis might be on the cards.
Bill Simmons on the availability of Anthony Davis (The Ringer) pic.twitter.com/FQLqwiZZDR
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“The Lakers lost again. There’s some buzz, just some buzzing that AD might be available. That is a Plan B because the Westbrook trade, or what they can get for Westbrook, whether you want to give future assets, maybe that doesn’t even make sense for the Lakers. You’ve got Davis here, who hasn’t looked the same in a couple of years. Certainly, not close to bubble Davis, that’s the last time we saw vintage, 2018 Pelicans’ level Davis. This year he’s on the books for 37.9, next year 40.6, player option in 2025, 43.2. I don’t know what the endgame for this Lakers team is, but the Pelicans have their pick. I don’t think whatever they have, is not really fixable to make them a playoff team.”
Simmons is right about the 2023 playoffs being a stretch for the Lakers to reach, but it is unlikely that the Lakers trade Davis unless they are blowing up the entire team.
Could The Lakers Move On From Anthony Davis?
Trading Davis has been spoken about before by media members, but only as a hypothetical. With the resource-depleted Lakers struggling to stay afloat in the Western Conference, trading Davis might be a massive shakeup for LA.
There are no obvious packages available in the case of AD being moved, as the Lakers would struggle to put a new supporting cast around LeBron from scratch. Davis is playing through injury and still performing at a DPOY level.
The Lakers could make a trade for the future by trading AD, but that would be counterproductive in giving LeBron a good supporting cast now. If they trade AD, they’re better off blowing it up fully and making LeBron James available.
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