Why the Los Angeles Lakers are the big losers of the trade deadline

3. The Los Angeles Lakers now have a fun offseason ahead of them

Part of the reason why a move was expected at the deadline was the financial situation that the Los Angeles Lakers are currently in. The Lakers are going to have to re-sign players this offseason and simply do not have the money to do so.

That is why trading Kentavious Caldwell-Pope seemed like such a no-brainer. Of course, the team had to do so without getting worse, as they are still trying to win the NBA Championship but based on the moves that were made the Lakers absolutely could have done so.

That Oladipo trade that I previously mentioned could have accomplished this feat as well as trading for someone like Evan Fournier. Regardless, KCP is still on the books and the Lakers are going to have to figure out what they are doing with Dennis Schroder, Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker.

Montrezl Harrell also has a player option that he can utilize in the offseason as well.

The most alarming name is THT. The Lakers are high on THT and it seems increasingly likely that they did not trade for Kyle Lowry because they did not want to part ways with THT, which is fair.

However, there is still the chance of THT getting a poison-pill offer sheet and the Lakers not being able to match. Just because he was not traded does not mean that he is going to be a Laker in the long-term.

This is exactly what happened with Julius Randle. The team did not want to trade him at the deadline and he simply walked away after the season. It is a bit different as this time the Lakers are title contenders but THT is likely not going to play a huge role in a playoff rotation when the Lakers are fully healthy.

Trading KCP or even Schroder/Harrell (for the right price) could have solved some of these problems.