Once again, the Los Angeles Lakers have failed to live up to the expectations. They’ve barely gotten by against lesser teams, and they don’t look like a legit contender right now, not even with LeBron James back to full strength.
The Lakers have been reluctant to make any deals thus far. Their roster is flawed and poorly built, but they don’t want to give up any of their future first-round picks, which are projected to be quite valuable.
Nonetheless, Jovan Buha of The Athletic believes they could change their stance quite soon, as they’re reportedly waiting until December 15 when recently-signed players are trade-eligible to start making moves.
NBA Rumors: Lakers To Wait Until December 15Before Making Any Moves
“Everything I’ve heard from multiple sources is that Dec. 15 is the date they are now targeting,” Buha said on Lakers Talk. “I had initially heard and reported that Thanksgiving range, 20-25 games, but the truth is the Lakers don’t feel like they have a great grasp on this team.”
“And with LeBron missing multiple games, with AD missing a couple of games, with Dennis and Thomas not starting the season healthy and then those guys now emerging as key rotation players, Pat Beverley being suspended as well… yes, they’ve had the Big 3 for 10 of the 19 games and they are only 3-7 with those three playing together, but overall they want a little bit more of a sample size to determine ‘what do we have here, which pieces fit, which pieces don’t fit and who do we want to keep, who do we want to flip?’” Buha added.
The Lakers could reportedly look to move Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley, as Russell Westbrook has been solid coming off the bench for them. As for landing a bigger star, that seems unlikely at this point.