For the last several months, Los Angeles Lakers fans have been clamoring for the team to make a trade in order to become championship contenders and maximize whatever is left of LeBron James’ productive years.
That desire intensified when the team started 2-10, but since then, it has won five of seven games and has started to look like a decent squad.
Its offense has trended upward, and Anthony Davis has been playing at the top of his game.
For those reasons, the Lakers probably will not execute a trade for several weeks, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Via ESPN:
“When the Lakers started the season 0-5, Wojnarowski reported L.A. would wait until around Thanksgiving before looking to upgrade the team. The thinking behind that timing, team sources said, was threefold. Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka wanted to see how the group that was assembled in the offseason, featuring six players from last season’s team, looked together; he wanted to give first-year head coach Darvin Ham the chance to bring his vision for reinvigorating Westbrook to life; and he didn’t want to come off as desperate with early-season trade talk, knowing other teams would take advantage in any potential negotiations.
“Where things stand now is an adjusted timeline for L.A. The Lakers expect more teams will be willing to engage them in trade talks after Dec. 15, when contracts that were signed in the summer are eligible to be moved, sources said. But even with more possibilities opening up, league business slows around the holidays, so the odds of any action before mid-January are remote.”
In general, most trades are made after the start of January, so if L.A. doesn’t do anything until then, it could simply be a function of what normally transpires throughout a season on the trade market.
On the other hand, if they continue to play relatively well and improve, the Lakers could find themselves with improved posture when it comes to trade negotiations.
