Lakers Right to Wait on Trade to Get LeBron, Anthony Davis Help Amid NBA Rumors

Erik BeastonNovember 17, 2024

Photos by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images

The Los Angeles Lakers are 8-4 and sit fourth in a jam-packed Western Conference.

Not bad for a rookie coach in JJ Redick and a superstar player in LeBron James in his 22nd season. So much so that the Lakers organization, once scrambling early on to make a trade that would beef up the bench depth and give the team a more suitable answer at center behind its other superstar, Anthony Davis, is no longer in a rush to make a deal.

Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported that the team is comfortable waiting until January or February to make a deal (1:05).

It should be.

Even with concerns about the center position behind Davis and the lackluster play of D’Angelo Russell through the first dozen or so games of the season, the team is still playing at a high level and doing just enough to keep pace with the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Davis is playing some of the best basketball of his career and has developed into the centerpiece of Redicks’ offense. He averages 31.1 points per game, 11.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists while shooting 56.8 percent from the paint.

Age is just a number for James who, at 39, is scoring 23.3 per game, collecting 8.6 rebounds, and dishing the ball, tallying 9.2 assists per night.

They will inevitably need help, whether it is from Austin Reaves, who is averaging 18 per game, or Cam Reddish or Rui Hachimura, and depth will be an issue later in the season. For now, though, the team is right to let things play out.

Allow Redick’s system to gel. Let the team develop the chemistry in that system that will be key late in the season, when they will need everyone performing at their highest levels to best a squad like OKC, the Warriors, or even the Minnesota Timberwolves.

If the opportunity comes to add a veteran center like Robert Williams III or Jonas Valančiūnas via trade, explore that at that time. If it is a necessity sooner, so be it. Until then, let Davis and James ball out while Reaves and Co. find their rhythm and place in their new head coach’s gameplan, and ride the early season momentum into the new year.

Barring injury to either of the two stars, this is a Lakers team to feel cautiously optimistic about as the calendar prepares to turn over.