Los Angeles Lakers hopefully remain quiet at 2018 NBA Trade Deadline

For the Los Angeles Lakers, a quiet day for the 2018 NBA Trade Deadline would be a positive one for the organization.

Coming into the 2017-18 NBA regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers were lining up their roster and salary cap space to make a run at a number of big free agents in the summer of 2018. Packaging their young players with Luol Deng’s terrible contract was their pathway forward, but they have yet to find a trade partner and seem settled on addressing this after the season.

A report by ESPN stated that the Lakers will not be making drastic moves this deadline, and are shifting their focus towards the 2019 free agent class headlined by Kawhii Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson. This may disappoint fans who were dreaming of luring Paul George and LeBron James to southern California this summer, but fans should be content with how things are currently going,

I, for one, am very pleased the Lakers are leaning towards staying pat at the trade deadline. I’ve written multiple articles stating that the return the Lakers would net in a trade for Jordan Clarkson or Julius Randle would be negative, and shipping out young talent for the chance to sign free agents never made sense to me.

The key to standing pat has been the development Clarkson and Randle have shown this season. Clarkson has always been a scoring threat off the bench, but he’s having his most efficient season of his career while maintaining his scoring potency. The floor is open for him, and he’s taking full advantage of the space.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images /

Randle’s offensive game is still predicated on using his strength to finish at the rim and speed to go around bigger defenders. He’s been an efficient rim-runner for the Lakers, but is making a large impact on defense with his ability to switch onto guards and wings on the perimeter and hold his own.

The majority of the team has improved this season, but those two have been heavily involved in trade rumors all season. They have slowly quieted those trade talks with their play, making Randle’s impending restricted free agency this summer very interesting as he continues to improve each season.

More from Hoops Habit

The rest of the team is playing great as well. The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of an 11-4 run, good enough for the second-best record in the NBA during that stretch. The team is starting to learn how to play off one another and this run has to be impressive considering most of the rotation is players under 25 years old, along with the constant trade chatter that they’ve endured.

Their positive play has placed them six games back of the eighth seed in the Western Conference. I’m not saying they can leapfrog three teams to make the playoffs, but the teams ahead of them are not in the best shape, which opens the door slightly for the Lakers to make a run when Lonzo Ball comes back.

The New Orleans Pelicans currently own the eighth seed, but are trending down with DeMarcus Cousins out for the season. The Los Angeles Clippers are behind them and just traded Blake Griffin and may send DeAndre Jordan out next. The Utah Jazz sit in 10th and are playing great as of now, but their hot shooting should dip relatively soon.

This Lakers team at its current trajectory could make things interesting in the playoff race. Lonzo should be back after the All-Star break and the team is learning to win without him. With no rights to their own draft pick, the Lakers could pick up some wins on teams tanking later in the schedule.

Next: 2017-18 Week 17 NBA Power Rankings

A lot can happen before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. But the growth the Lakers have shown throughout the season should warrant keeping the group together and exploring options in the offseason. Hopefully the Los Angeles Lakers stay out of the NBA trade deadline activity.

Home/Los Angeles Lakers