If you are a Los Angeles Lakers fan hoping the team can swing a blockbuster that makes a major impact on their season, you may want to have a more conservative outlook on roster changes ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
On Friday, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski gave an update on the outlook for the Lakers heading toward Feb. 9. While they will make an effort to be active in the trade market, the prognosis is not good for change in La La Land.
“I think for the Lakers, a player like Bojan Bogdanovic in Detroit — who a lot of teams have interest in — the price is significant for players like that. There’s just not a lot of sellers yet in the marketplace. Multiple draft picks [is the asking price] for a player like Bogdanovic right now, and what teams have to ask themselves is, for an incremental improvement, how much are we willing to give up? I don’t think there’s any big deals for the Lakers out there, but I do think they’re gonna be active around the edges.”
Despite changing their head coach and making the bold move to bench former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook, the Lakers have still struggled to build winning momentum in the 2022-23 season. The team’s 21-25 record is third-worst in the Western Conference heading into their matchup on Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
However, even though they have not played as well as hoped, and a foot injury to top player Anthony Davis has hampered them over the last month, they are only a game out of the final spot for the NBA play-in tournament and two games out of avoiding the tourney altogether.
It all means that there’s hope among the fan base that the Los Angeles Lakers could make a notable trade ahead of the Feb. 9 NBA deadline. With Davis back — which could happen next week — maybe L.A. could become a formidable group in the Western Conference playoffs.
Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Lakers are hampered by a lack of flexibility in their payroll, few players who have a high value around the league and a dearth of worthwhile picks in upcoming drafts. The team does not have a first-round draft pick until 2025.
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