Lakers STILL Active on Trade Market? Why it may not even be WORTH IT..

Lakers STILL Active on Trade Market? Why it may not even be WORTH IT..

[Music] Well, the Los Angeles Lakers had a fairly busy off season, adding players like Marcus Smart, Jake the Rabia, drafting Adro, picking up DeAndre off the bio market and not to mention Marcus Smart too, but they have yet to make a trade yet. Definitely impressive what they have managed to do and the way they have changed their team without making a trade or giving up trade assets. But many fans thought or rather hope they would make a trade. And well, with over two months left until opening day of the NBA season, I guess they still could if they wanted to. And according to Brett Seagull of Clutch Points, the Lakers have been active on the trade market. This coming after the addition of Marcus Smart, saying that they have been active yet and often have been searching for three and wings like a Contavius Coldwell Pope, even mentioning Dante Deenzo with him at one point, and that they have remained engaged on ways to improve their roster this summer. So with that in mind here, is it even worth it for them to be active on the trade market yet? Even after addressing pretty much every need on their team, you know, I think there still might be a need for a 3 and wing or maybe a two-way wing, but they have definitely addressed a lot of the major needs and question marks on their team. Obviously, the biggest one being a viable starting center option, addressing that need or hopefully addressing it with DeAndre Aton, addressing their need for a backcourt defender, a guy with more playoff background, and definitely a viable playoff option with Marcus Smart, even getting a Jake Larabia who might be able to fill that 3D wing role for their team eventually, hopefully even by this season. Even adding more athletic ability and even more defensive-minded ability off their bench with a Dero and a player to grow with their team and to fit the Lucadonic timeline. But they still do have trade assets left and therefore could make a trade yet. I mean whether you’re talking about draft picks, they have their 2031 future vers draft pick that’s tradable. Future first draft pick swaps having four of them at this current moment coming in 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032. One tradable second round draft pick also coming in 2032. Then the actual player assets of Dolphin Connect, Maxi Cleba, Gabe Vincent, even if you want to go as far as Brewy Hatimura and Austin Reeves, they have some assets that they could put toward a trade and they ultimately have to make that decision. Is this the team they want to enter the NBA season with? Do they maybe want to evaluate it first and then maybe look to make a trade thereafter if required or if they feel like they need to? Or are they not fully confident in this iteration of their team and feel like they have not addressed the needs of this team quite yet? That’s obviously up for debate here. You know, I’ve seen comments saying that they’re completely fine and that this team is good enough to compete and maybe even that they don’t have to make any changes throughout the entire season, but I’ve also seen many comments saying that they’re not good enough yet and that they do have to make a trade. And while it’s definitely up for debate, I wouldn’t say either side is wrong here. With this current iteration of their team, there are definitely a lot of ifs in my opinion. You know, if Jakeia can become that 3D wing for their team, then maybe they don’t have to trade for one. If Marcus Smart can stay healthy, if he can get back to what he was back with Boston, then that need is definitely addressed on their team too. Obviously the DeAndre Aton ifs, the both on the court and off the court ifs, commitment issues, defensive issues, commitment. If he can be the player that he was back for Phoenix and get back to playing highle committed winning basketball, then that’s obviously a major need that they already filled and won’t have to be further addressed in the future beyond DeAndre, which would obviously be a good thing. And then even for the F soften unit, durability with Jared Vanderbilt, reliability with Jackson Hayes, more reliability with Gabe Vincent, and getting back to the player that he once was back in Miami. Then even for kind of the outliers or kind of X factors, I guess if you want to call them that, guys like Dalton Connect, Adiro, Maxi kind of guys on the outside or kind of situational matchup dependent guys. what can they get from them and can they be more productive than we might think or do they have to replace or simply view as trade assets more so in regard to Dalton connect and maxiba again a lot of questions here that right now are simply ifs if this certain player can do that then maybe they don’t have to make a trade if they can’t do that then that will lead to them having to make a trade all of that’s up in the air right now and that’s why you can’t say they either definitively have to make a trade or don’t have to make a trade quite yet at least not in my opinion However, that’s not to say I’m against them making a trade if they find the right trade and especially for guys that again are on the outside looking in primarily with a guy like Dalton Connect or Maxiba, Gabe Vincent, maybe a combination of any of those three, then I’d say definitely explore it and try to make an upgrade to your team if you can. No, I’m not talking about trading for an all-star level player or anything like that with them. That’s not realistic and definitely won’t be happening. But for example, if you could flip a guy like Gay Vincent for a player with a similar skill set, but maybe can offer a little bit more than Gay Vincent, maybe somebody like Matise Styel, for example, a better defender, maybe a more true 3D option, and a guy that would fit their timeline a little bit better. That, for example, would be something I would be willing to do. That’s only one example. Maybe you could point to something with Dolphin Connect, like a younger back court option that’s a little bit more reliable defensively. You know, I don’t have the perfect one for one trade example for that one, but you could point to something like that. Or again, maybe packaging them, packaging one, two, three of them together, maybe with their draft pick or without their 2031 vers draft pick. That’s something you could do with them, too. And in my opinion, that’s the trade that I would only look to make right now at this point. I wouldn’t be looking to make a big trade and definitely not any kind of trade that would involve a Rui Hatimra or Austin Reeves. I think that would be a bit presumptuous and going a bit too far with the team that we don’t know exactly the full story about if they even need to make a trade again or if they’re fine for the current moment. I don’t think you should go that far with it quite yet or maybe ever throughout this entire season. Not only all of that though, but the other part to this is simply that the current trade market is pretty dry at the moment. I mean, we can come up with guys that might sound good but really aren’t on the trade market. I mean, I guess you can say any player is available for the right price, but if we’re actually going after a player that’s widely available and the team would actually work with us with a trade that they wouldn’t have to be blown away for, then it’s actually a pretty dry trade market. Again, I go back to a guy like Matis Styel. We’ve heard about him being on the trade block and the Lakers having some level of interest in him. Maybe a different guy like Rob Williams have also heard about him. And you know, apart from that, I can’t point to too many other options. I mean, we’ve heard about Nicola Busovich, but I’m not going to try to trade for him. At one point, we heard about Andy Wiggins, and I think that would actually be a pretty good fit, but at the current moment, he’s off the trade block and definitely not available for a good price. And, you know, yes, I guess you could scour the trade market for rebuilding teams that are trying to trade their veteran players. You know, guys that would help them win too many games and therefore they can’t tank effectively. But apart from that and apart from the obvious options, there’s not that many guys in the trade market. And obviously it does take two to tango here. Meaning that to make a trade, you need a trade partner and then that trade partner has to be willing to make a trade with you and for the specific player that you want from their team. And obviously that can lead to miscommunication and two teams not agreeing on the trade or obviously wanting different trade assets in the trade. That can lead to some difficulties. Again, we’re not playing NBA 2K here. Can’t simply fire up the trade machine and turn on the trade sliders off and make any trade we want to. That’s not going to happen in real life. That’s why it’s so difficult and why Ron Plinker has not made a trade yet. You know, yes, he does tend to be overly patient at times and it does tend to drive us a bit crazy. But if there’s not a trade market, not a trademark for the player that they want or the skill set that they’re looking to trade for, then there’s not really a big reason or not a big push to make a trade right now. At that point, I think it would be smarter to wait until the trade deadline. I know we hate that word, the word wait, but at this point, it probably is the better option for them. They managed to really adjust their team and address a lot of major needs on their team without giving up a trade asset. So don’t go wasting that just for the sake of making a trade. So you can say you make a trade. That’s not a good route to take in my opinion. At this point, wait for the right trade to come around. Whether it’s in December again like they did for Dorian Smith last year, maybe waiting until the trade deadline and hitting an absolute home run like with Luca Donuch. Just kidding. I doubt it’ll ever happen again. But obviously waiting is better than making a trade that’s not worth making in my opinion. Overall though, yes, I would say the leakers should be and apparently do happen to be active on the trade market yet, but not as active as some maybe want them to be or as aggressive as some maybe want them to be too. Again, if the right trade comes around and more so a minor trade with maybe somebody like Dolphin Connect, Gabe Vincent, or Maxi Kibba, maybe with their 2031 verse on draft pick, you know, I’d probably wait to trade something as big of an asset as that, but maybe make a smaller trade right now, but wait a bit longer to fully evaluate their team and find out what their biggest need is closer to the trade deadline. That’s the route I would take and probably the best route for them to take in my opinion, too. But with all of that being said, what do you guys think? How do you feel about the Lakers? And should they be active on the trade market yet? Should they be more patient? And how aggressive should they be at this point on the trade market? Or should they be looking to make a trade prior to training camp or not even think about the trade market anymore? Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below. But I think that’ll pretty much do it for this one. And if you enjoyed the video, then I would greatly appreciate if you dropped a like, subscribe to the channel if you have not already, and hit that notification bell to never miss out when I upload a video. But as always, thank you for watching and have a great day or night. [Music]

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