Make no transactions
It is not unusual for a team to stand pat at the deadline. Will the Lakers be one of them? Let’s look at the existing roster. Nobody expects that they will trade Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball or star rookie Kyle Kuzma. The names that come up most frequently are free-agent-to-be Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson, along with a sprinkling of Larry Nance Jr.
Clarkson has rebounded spectacularly from a slump. He averaged 28 PPG while shooting nearly 62 percent in three games last week, all victories. While the Lakers might get more in return if they trade a hot player, it is difficult to see how Clarkson’s instant offense off the bench would be replaced.
He is approaching the level of top-scoring 6th men Williams, Jamal Crawford and Eric Gordon. If anything, his recent performance has made him more valuable to the Lakers. It now seems that retaining him is more likely than trading him.
Randle, meanwhile, has been a powerful presence at the 4 since being inserted into the starting lineup 15 games ago. As a starter, he is averaging 16 points and over nine rebounds per game while shooting 55 percent.
The assumption for most of the season was that the Lakers would not re-sign him. At the very least, however, his recent production and physicality might instead convince Johnson and Pelinka that keeping him is indeed best for the team. Trading him now wouldn’t appear to make much sense unless some team is willing to overpay for him.
As for Nance, he continues to provide valuable minutes with good rebounding, solid picks and great hustle, along with crowd-pleasing dunks. For the season he is averaging nearly nine points and seven rebounds while shooting 60 percent. He is an excellent off-the-bench big and would be difficult to replace if traded- which makes it unlikely that the Lakers would do so. (All stats are courtesy of basketball-reference.com).