Here are three players that the Los Angeles Lakers should trade before the deadline this season.
It has been evident since they signed Tyson Chandler that a subtle tweak to this Los Angeles Lakers team can yield positive results. That is why they should continue to tinker with the roster because they have performed slightly below expectations to start the season. There are obvious other areas where they can still improve and making a trade or two could get that done.
With one of the deeper rosters in the league, the Lakers can afford to send a few bench and role players packing to bring in others that better complement LeBron James and the Lakers’ strong young core.
They still need major help defensively especially on the perimeter and it could help to trade for a lock down defender at the guard or wing spot. Another area they can still improve is their outside shooting, and if they can flip a player sitting on their bench for a proven spot up shooting veteran then they should jump at that opportunity to do so.
With a ton of their focus towards adding another max player next summer it limits the Lakers options on who they can go after. All the players they added in free agency are on one-year deals and if they did trade one of them they would want to bring in another player on an expiring contract.
However, even though the Lakers got off to somewhat of a shaky start, they have a bunch of valuable young pieces. The Lakers should not be in a hurry to trade those assets away for another star to go with James because they have won 6 of their last 7 games. In a deal like that would also likely have to surrender 2 or 3 young key players and that would deplete the Lakers best attribute, which is their team depth.
This list is more advocating trading the lesser complimentary players for other role players that fit better with the system Luke Walton is trying to run. These are the players on the roster that the Lakers need to flip for rotational pieces that can help in their quest for a playoff run.