{"id":398299,"date":"2026-01-09T12:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/398299\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T12:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:33:08","slug":"analyst-explains-why-lakers-desperately-need-to-make-this-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/398299\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst explains why Lakers desperately need to make this trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> are one of the few contenders in the NBA that desperately need to upgrade their roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the trade deadline approaches, mock trades and rumors to players are circulating. And the Lakers<\/a> are at the center of it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Sam Amick took a look<\/a> at five teams that desperately need to make a move ahead of the deadline this season, including Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRich Paul was right when he said earlier this month on his \u2018Game Over\u2019 podcast with Max Kellerman that the Lakers, as currently constructed, don\u2019t qualify as genuine contenders,\u201d Amick wrote.\u00a0\u201cAnd just because the messenger was unorthodox \u2014 he\u2019s the longtime agent for LeBron James, after all \u2014 doesn\u2019t mean the message was inaccurate.\u00a0Anyone who watched their December decline could see that much\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Championship coach calls out Lakers’ JJ Redick for public outbursts<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the move?<\/p>\n

The Lakers have two glaring holes throughout their depth \u2014 shooting and defending. So how does Amick address that?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen healthy, the odds of Don\u010di\u0107, Reaves and James providing an adequate line of defense on the perimeter are slim to none,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, can president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka land someone like New Orleans\u2019 Herb Jones (not currently believed to be available), Derrick Jones (for the right price) or Ellis (ditto), who could aid this cause?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they\u2019re at it, maybe he can find a way to reunite Don\u010di\u0107 with Gafford, the Mavericks<\/a>\u2019 big man who was such a good fit for him during their Dallas days.\u201d<\/p>\n

More NBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the few contenders in the NBA that desperately need to upgrade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-398299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}