Lakers: Trade Deadline Passes With Disappointment For Los Angeles
The Lakers watched the deadline come and go without any movement. There were a number of monumental deals done around the NBA on Thursday afternoon, but not one of them linked back to Los Angeles.
Despite all of the rumors and chatter, the Lakers stood still leading up to noon on Thursday. No rumors, no 'deal is close', and certainly no trade of Russell Westbrook. And unfortunately, it's exactly what was expected.
The Lakers do not have the assets to get any real deals done. Coming off of a severely frustrating loss to the tanking Trail Blazers the night before, fans in Los Angeles were almost hoping for a complete teardown of the team.
That never happened. Instead, Lakers fans had to watch Ben Simmons and James Harden get dealt as the Eastern Conference continues to be the talk of the NBA this season.
So rather than improve the team, Rob Pelinka and his front office squad chose to stand firm. This is the Lakers lineup that they will run with unless they start to explore the buy-out market in the days following the deadline.
And that has been what most analysts around the NBA have predicted for the Lakers for the last few weeks. They only really had Talen Horton-Tucker and a 2027 first-round draft pick to work with on the trade market, so buy-out options were the only thing that made sense.
What those options are will be interesting to see for the Lakers, especially over the next couple of days. Paul Milsap was one name that could have been a buy-out option, even if it didn't make sense for this roster.
But Milsap being traded to the 76ers likely means he will be sticking around, especially since they dealt Andre Drummond in the trade. Don't expect much from the Lakers unless Russ suddenly figures things out.
