Despite recently suffering their 50th loss in just one year’s time, the Los Angeles Lakers are willing to stay patient.
Appearing this week on “NBA Countdown,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski spoke on the Lakers’ approach to the trade market as the 2022-23 NBA season kicks off.
“I’m told to expect [GM] Rob Pelinka and the Lakers to wait until post-Thanksgiving, 20 games into the season and see what teams may start pivoting, who don’t start off well, who decide they may start to look to unload players,” Wojnarowski said.
Wojnarowski adds that the Lakers’ first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 are available for trade and that Russell Westbrook’s expiring contract still lurks.
It does makes sense (at least in an ideal world) for the Lakers to wait out the first month of the NBA season and see how their existing pieces fit together. There are two newcomers (Patrick Beverley and Lonnie Walker IV) in the starting lineup along with Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis. Additionally, some of the Lakers’ key bench additions this offseason (like Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant) are currently sidelined with injury.
But the reality is that the Lakers may not have the luxury of time. Westbrook has already become a huge distraction, and the team’s schedule is extremely difficult to start the year (with roughly a dozen games before Thanksgiving against teams who made the playoffs last year). It also sounds like James was putting some pressure on the front office to make a move with his comments after Tuesday’s loss in the season opener.
