The struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers this NBA season have led to a lot of discussions about what direction the team could head in the offseason. They are not close to being contenders as the trade to acquire Russell Westbrook has backfired.
Westbrook has proven to be a poor fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, leading to speculation that he could be shopped in the offseason. There wasn’t much interest in him ahead of the trade deadline, which wasn’t a huge surprise, but as an expiring deal, the Lakers may find more teams are willing to negotiate a trade.
Replenishing the depth on the roster should be the No. 1 goal for the front office this offseason. They traded away three rotation players to acquire Westbrook and filled the roster out with players on minimum contracts.
Some of those deals have panned out, as Carmelo Anthony has thrived in his role and Malik Monk has taken the next step in his development. Others, such as DeAndre Jordan, Kent Bazemore, and Rajon Rondo didn’t pan out nearly as well.
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Some sizable changes will have to come this offseason if the Los Angeles Lakers want to get back to the level of contending. LeBron James has essentially put the team on notice with some of his press conferences in recent weeks and the ball is now back in their court.
There were even some rumors that the Lakers could consider trading James. Their future outlook is bleak, to say the least. Leaving the door open for another return to the Cleveland Cavaliers and making it crystal clear he wants to finish his career playing alongside his son, Bronny, could Los Angeles get started on that process and trade James this offseason?
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Former Lakers legend, Shaquille O’Neal, believes that would be a disastrous decision for the team to make. Winning will not occur without James in his opinion.
“If you trade LeBron, you’ll never win again,” O’Neal said Monday on CNBC. “… If you put LeBron around the right guys, he’s definitely going to win. So I think whoever put the team together needs to step up and try to fix it.”
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Shaquille O’Neal is probably correct in his assessment. If the team decided against building around James and decided to trade him, their chances of winning another title any time soon would go out the door along with him.
LeBron James has proven he can still produce at an elite level, but he needs better fitting pieces around him for the team to find more success. This roster construction was doomed from the start and things are reaching new lows every night the Los Angeles Lakers take the court.
