Los Angeles Lakers: Tension brewing as trade deadline nears

The Los Angeles Lakers face an awkward couple of days leading up until the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline that will have effects for the rest of the season.

The NBA is at the forefront of the social media age transforming the sports world. From Woj bombs to petty wars between players, checking Twitter on a daily basis will bring the consumer something to dissect. Another area that social media is present among locker rooms is when trade talks are flying across the internet, and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of this as we speak.

The past week has been a whirlwind for the Lakers, kickstarted by Anthony Davis requesting a trade. The Purple and Gold are his preferred destination with no intentions of signing elsewhere when he’s an unrestricted free agent in 2020, according to Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Davis said he is choosing legacy over money and that he never stated those exact wishes in an interview with ESPN‘s Rachel Nichols, but it’s tough to nail down who to believe with so many sources in play.

However, to acquire AD before the Feb. 7 trade deadline, the Lakers would have to package most if not all of their young core along with draft picks, and had their first offer of Lonzo Ball, Michael Beasley, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Kuzma and a first round pick declined by the New Orleans Pelicans, according to Wojnarowski.

Trade talks are part of the business side of the NBA and sports world, but for a team relying on four players in their second and third seasons respectively, it’s a new feeling to hear your name tossed around trade talks.

Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram are former top recruits in high school and No. 2 picks in successive NBA Drafts. They’re used to being coveted and admired, not being talked like they’re not good enough as pawn pieces to land another player.

Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart are the other members of the core being floated around trade talks. They’re older and haven’t been peppered with praise throughout their deeper college experiences, but they too withstood a summer of shopping for Kawhi Leonard and now are playing with the shadow of not knowing where they’ll be by the Feb. 7 deadline.

There’s some split as to whether losing two, three or even all four of these players to bring in AD is worth it, but controlling the noise around the rumors is impossible, especially how much social media is a factor in their lives and the frequency this topic is being discussed throughout the media. It hasn’t played a role on the court, but it does make for a tense locker room.

Being a young player on a team with LeBron James doesn’t have the best track record either. LeBron is in win-now mode. Does LBJ believe they can win with this roster? Probably, but that’s the irrational confidence he has in himself. Does LBJ know that bringing in Anthony Davis elevates their chances immediately? Absolutely.

LeBron controls the teams he plays for. It comes with the territory of having the world’s best player on your roster. Finding a sustainable coach for him is a challenge in itself, but when the roster knows LeBron and his team always have an ace up their sleeves, it makes sense why the rest of the roster is slightly on edge.

Outside of the trade talk, it was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic, Dave McMenamin of ESPN and various other outlets that Lakers head coach Luke Walton and some veterans on the team got into a heated argument after a loss to the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 2. Walton apparently called out the selfish style of play of certain vets, which prompted JaVale McGee and Michael Beasley to throw back some words Walton’s way.

It reportedly never got out of control, but this isn’t the first time Walton and a veteran didn’t see eye-to-eye. Beasley and Walton got into an exchange during a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 17. McGee also called out Walton for his defensive adjustment deficiencies after a loss on Jan. 11 to the Utah Jazz.

This comes after reports have surfaced of LeBron’s camp wanting Walton ousted as head coach, according to ESPN‘s Jackie MacMullan. The power of LeBron is in full swing, but whether he wields this power full force before the trade deadline is the big question in the near future.

Who knows if the New Orleans Pelicans will cave and accept a trade offer from the Lakers, but if they don’t, LeBron has this group for the next couple of months at least. If they pull the deal off, the Lakers have to quickly retool their roster around LeBron, AD and whoever is left for a playoff push — something that is far from certain with 29 games left and currently in 10th place in the Western Conference.

This is why the next four days are so important for the Lakers’ season. They have a four-game road trip before the All-Star break and have a team that can’t stay out of the news for reasons off the court. They sit only 1.5 games out of the 8-seed with LeBron James (hopefully) back in the rotation for good, but nobody knows how the young players will react to the trade rumors, even if the deadline passes with no changes.

Toss in some internal strife between coach and players and this will be another news-dominated week by the Los Angeles Lakers. This road trip, which includes trips to the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, and the four days leading up until the trade deadline will be the defining moment of their season up until this point, and no outcome should surprise anybody given the nature of this team and the NBA as a whole.