Latest Los Angeles Lakers Trade Rumors Including LeBron James(!?) & Possible Trade Deadline Targets
On today’s show LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers trade rumors what is it time for the king and LA to split ahead of this NBA trade deadline and if not if the trade rumors are completely bogus then what moves can the Lakers possibly make to get back to a place of title
Contention and should they be holding on to head coach Darin ham it’s all coming up right here at locked on NBA you are locked on NBA your daily NBA podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what’s up and welcome to another edition of locked
On NBA the biggest stories with the local experts I’m your host Jackson Gatlin also host of locked on Rockets right here on the locked on podcast Network your team every day now today’s episode is brought to you by LinkedIn when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality
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Free at linkedin.com lockon MBA that’s linkedin.com lockon NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply joining us now is the host of locked on Lakers Brian kinety who can track down wherever you listen to your podcast and on YouTube just search locked on Lakers
And Brian it wouldn’t be a trade deadline if there weren’t a million and one different Lakers rumors heading into the NBA trade deadline am I right well it’s just how it goes I mean every player um even the ones that the Lakers have made abundantly clear that they
Don’t want like Zack LaVine uh pre-injury are still linked to the Lakers just because that’s how this works there’s just no other way around it absolutely and core among these rumors that we have to tap right here from the jump is we got to figure out what exactly does the future hold are
These next 5 days 4 days whatever it is going to be the last days of LeBron James as a Laker because we’ve got LeBron over here tweeting out hourglass emojis is it about him is it about the te you know we got that so some cryptic tweeting going on we’ve got Brian wior
On his podcast talking about the fact that he doesn’t know if LeBron will be in in a Lakers jersey next season and here’s the big one we have uh this gentleman David pingalore on on Twitter on X who shared a tweet basically saying that he thinks that LeBron James at the
Is at the top of the Lakers list to be traded and that that’s and that Rob pinka is looking for the right team the right the right dance partner if you will now this man David pingalore he’s been linked to some reporting from for in the past with LeBron James and he’s
Nailed some things in the past so this isn’t just some Rando guy coming out of the woodwork with some you know clickbaity LeBron tweet so let’s start right there Brian are we at the end potentially of LeBron James’s tenure as a member of the LA Lakers no no okay we
Are not okay I mean anything is theoretic no I mean I I think the Lakers have a choice to make about about LeBron um they have decisions to make long term about what they want for this team and and all that kind of stuff it is I guess it is it is possible
And you know had they been blown out in Boston and blown out in New York and like the things were looking really awful um as they did going into the weekend if they look that bad coming out then maybe okay you start to entertain it or LeBron’s team leans on it rich
Paul said you know LeBron is not asking for it um and if LeBron doesn’t ask for a trade I’d be shocked at the Lakers I just also don’t what is the market the market for LeBron James doesn’t come together in a week who’s trading for
LeBron is it back to Miami if it’s back to Miami what are they going to give like you know there’s just I I don’t think LeBron is necessarily like he was asked before the Knicks game what is you know are you are you doing know what
You’re going to do with your option he said no um and I think he would have said that even if the Lakers were 10 games over 500 instead of one game over but you know long term maybe you can make some choices about that but there’s just the the the practicality and the
Logistics of trading LeBron are so complicated because because remember he’s got an option for next year that the other team might not necessarily believe that he’s going to pick up or whatever it’s like I don’t even know what the market for him looks like the idea that you you could get five first
Rounders for yeah I don’t really think that’s true you might be able to get that for Anthony Davis who’s under contract and playing MVP caliber basketball but not for LeBron so LeBron I think barring something totally extraordinary will be on the Lakers post deadline this week what El who else is
On the team is is an open question but LeBron I don’t think is part of that you know it’s it’s so funny because I do think it’s it’s really tough right the Lakers are in this precarious situation but this is the case with all Lebron James Leed teams right he he’s coming
Into you know the the player option on his contract does he stay does he go how Allin are you willing to go on a guy who could bolt this off season if things do go uh you know not according to plan in the back half of this season but with
Where the Lakers are St standing right now right they are uh I believe 20th in the NBA in offense if I’m not mistaken 15th in defense or maybe I have those numbers flipped no I do not I do not have those numbers flick 20th in offense 15th in defense it doesn’t exactly feel
Like the Lakers are like a move away from suddenly being right back there in contention is the problem so if you are the Lakers organizationally what move if or or set of moves could you potentially make to then get back to a place because it feels like this is the pattern every
Season right where maybe uh you know not performing quite to expectations then okay what do you do do you do you fire the coach do you make a major shake up at the trade deadline get out the bad pieces try to bring in the good pieces
And then do you have enough to make a legitimate good postseason run so as the Lakers stand right now that’s kind of I think the the question that they’re faced with is do you maybe explore that option of moving on from LeBron and and seeing what the market might look like
Or do you go all in on a dejonte Murray trade and you know try to put the right pieces around LeBron and AD to to win out this season well what makes Murray for example interesting is that you are really I mean a lot of this is structural like if you’re trading for
Murray you think he makes you better um there’s no question because he gives you a point of attack Defender to put next to Austin Reeves theoretically um addresses some of your um defensive issues with that starting back court the Lakers have without giving it changes your offense but you don’t necessarily
Give away uh um a ton of offense you know Murray is a better attacker downhill um you know going you know past Defenders and stuff like that but de D’Angelo Russell is a better outside shooter much better track record with as as an outside shooter and is a better
Pure point guard but there even if you think Murray’s defense isn’t what it was in in San Antonio there is no planet on which he is not a better Defender than D’Angelo Russell so you know you can start to improve him that way but the the biggest difference I think between
Russell and and uh Murray is Murray’s contract actually keeps him in La whereas Russell if he declines his player option might end up somewhere else and even and if he declines that option not sure the Lakers given this sort of constant churn around him necessarily want to bring him back the
Real wild card here is Jared Vanderbilt could be out he’s gonna be out for a minimum of weeks and could miss the rest of the season and this blows a huge hole in in the Lakers where because Vanderbilt is their best defender their best point of attack Defender and you can’t
Upgrade you can’t fill the Vanderbilt hole and solve the you know the the backcourt problem at the same time the Lakers just don’t have enough stuff they have Gabe Vincent who is injured and a bit of an unknown quantity and only makes 11 million you have ruy haimura
Who value I think is questionable around the league you have the Russell contract and you can only trade one first rounder and now the Lakers too have the issue too where they can’t even trade multiple it’s be hard for them to trade multiple multiple players out without getting
Multiple players back because they don’t have a guy like Vanderbilt cam reddish is out Gabe Vinson is out so they’re in a really tough spot is the uh summary to a very long answer to a question I mean and and look I don’t I don’t envy the
Spot that Rob pinka and the Lakers are in it’s it’s a very precarious dance that you have to do right but between you know do you do you mortgage What Remain assets you do have to try for one more one more push this season can you
Find the right fit maybe it’s not Deonte Mur Murray maybe it’s a couple smaller moves at the margins here and there at at this point does de does Deon Murray look like the best possible bet for this Lakers team to get back to a place where they feel confident in a postseason run
Maybe not a finals run but just a postseason run with LeBron and AD yeah maybe I mean I wish I had a better answer for you mean I I think they showed this team has showed all season long uh that they as LeBron said um they
Are capable of beating any team in the league on any given night yeah I realized no Julius Randall no o anabe on Saturday but the Lakers came in and won that game um Nicks had won nine straight it’s not like they were a team without confidence they won on Thursday in
Boston without any without either of Their Stars they they have beaten Oklahoma City they’ve beaten Phoenix they been they’ve beaten every team in the league they’ve also lost some awful games and that’s why they’re 26 and 25 so Murray I think I think the I think
They pull the trigger on a Murray deal if they like the long-term implications of it I think it’s probably seen as an upgrade for this season but more structurally does it help them going into the offseason and into next season with what they they know they’ll have um
Other than that it’s like do you give up a lot of stuff for Dorian finny Smith um could you maybe swing a couple second rounders for like tus Jones to make your offense and your back court give you a few more options or you know could you do something with Royce O’Neal which
Doesn’t it’s not going to push you over the edge but it makes you a little bit better without changing what you can do this off season because the Lakers really can make a swing now or they can make a swing in the offseason when they have three picks that they can trade
Right now they can only trade one um I think in the end given how high some of these asking prices seem to be around the league when you look at the reporting unless those asking prices come down I think the Lakers will make tweaks more than they will make big
Transformative moves well we also know that every NBA front office likes to leak that oh yeah this uh distress AET that we have is worth you know 17 first round draft picks and we’re not going to budge we’re going to dig our heels in we want all those firsts for this yeah I
Mean like Dorian two two firsts two firsts for Dorian finny Smith seems like an incredible asking price until you look around and you see on the market who is available and the answer is no one I mean there’s really nobody on the market it’s you know Deonte Murray it’s
Dorian finny Smith it’s maybe Alex Caruso if you have a ton but the Lakers I can’t imagine have enough stuff to get Caruso who I’m sure they would rather have over Murray um but like Chicago Lord knows what they’re doing in Chicago but one pick Julius Randall and
Jaylen you know hood chafino is not going to be enough to get know you know Caruso away from Chicago there’s no prayer all right we’ve covered LeBron and you are firmly in the camp he’s not going anywhere Lakers aren’t making that move any number of other Lakers could be
On the move ahead of this deadline if the right package is available maybe dejonte Moray becomes a Laker maybe he doesn’t last guy here for you Brian that we got to talk about is it are we past the point we’re moving on from Darin hand makes sense what’s the actually
What’s the what was the record on on uh when when oh my goodness when Nate McMillan got the got the outs in uh Atlanta and Quin Snyder got brought in that I think that was the latest we’d ever seen a head coach fired in NBA history quite possibly late into the
Season so I mean are we we’re kind of approaching that territory now at this point with Darin ham so does he stay does he go is there an improvement that could be made in the head coaching Department you know aside from just the roster improvements that need to be made
Ahead of the Dead the short answer is yes they could make an improvement there’s I am been very disappointed in ham because I thought he did a nice job last year under very difficult circumstances and when given a better roster did better things this year has
Been it’s not been an easy hand um it’s I I kind of put it this way like Darin is taking like graduate level classes and he’s just failing them like it’s not what he’s been asked to do is not easy but he has not performed well
In that Tas ask um and I don’t think that the locker room has a ton of faith in him I do think that they have probably come to a conclusion that the bus family is not going to let him go short of LeBron and Anthony Davis going into Jeanie’s office and saying this
Guy’s got to go he’s got the any the the replacement would be internal um now with you know especially with Doc who would you know doc would have been the the prime candidate for something like that but he’s obviously already in Milwaukee it would probably be Chris jent or Phil handy on an
Interim basis coming from that staff they would play better because that’s what always happens when you fire a coach is you get you know some kind of Bounce whether it’s a real bounce or a dead cat bounce um would remain to be seen um I do not think they’re going to
Do it I think they probably should have um and I hate calling for people’s jobs and I generally am differential to coaches because what they’re doing is very hard he’s just not done a very good job and I don’t think the uh the the the important people in that room have a ton
Of faith in him that said if they they have had opportunities to make it abundantly clear that they are over him and they are not going to play for him and they haven’t done it you know they played hard in Boston they played hard
In in uh in um New York over the weekend like they’ve had opportunities to get Darin Fir and they haven’t done it what moves if any will the Lakers make ahead of the NBA trade deadline is Darin ham going to be the head coach for
The rest of the season or could we see yet another late head coaching swap in this one for the Lakers you’re going to have us covered for all that and so much more over at locked on Lakers Brian thanks for stopping by locked on NBA with me Anytime
Latest Los Angeles Lakers Trade Rumors Including LeBron James(!?) & Possible Trade Deadline Targets
Jackson Gatlin (@LockedOnRockets) is joined by Brian Kamenetzky (@LockedOnLakers) to discuss the latest LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers trade rumors, why a split isn’t likely to happen in-season, how the Lakers can improve their roster ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline and names to keep an eye out for like Atlanta Hawks Dejounte Murray, and whether the time has passed to move on from head coach Darvin Ham.
#Lakers #LeBronJames #Trade
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