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Why the Lakers not making a trade at the deadline is a great thing

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 03: Talen Horton-Tucker #5 and Russell Westbrook #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers react during the second half against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on February 03, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 03: Talen Horton-Tucker #5 and Russell Westbrook #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers react during the second half against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on February 03, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

2. The Lakers didn’t compound a bad move with another bad move

The worst thing that the Los Angeles Lakers could have done in the offseason was trade for Russell Westbrook. Westbrook clearly was not going to fit with this team and completely restricted the team from making future adjustments. Not only did the Lakers have to trade away the assets that the team did have but it also does not have much room to add.

The only asset left in Los Angeles was Talen Horton-Tucker, who has been disappointing and has seen his value decrease as a result. Personally, I believe that the Lakers should have traded THT for Kyle Lowry last season when that was on the table, but it did not happen.

Just because the Lakers missed the window to trade THT for top value and because they made a bad trade for Westbrook does not mean they should continue to scramble. We see NBA teams do this all the time and it really seemed like the Lakers were going to as well. They make a bad move (or several) and then compound them with more bad moves out of desperation to try and fix the initial bad move.

Trading THT should not have been off the table but it really seems like the best thing the team could have gotten for him was Terrence Ross. That would have simply been an example of compounding a previous bad move with another bad move.

In reality, flipping THT for someone like Ross would not have changed anything for this team… which brings us to our final point.

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