Report: The Lakers are delaying making a major trade for surprising reason

The Los Angeles Lakers are suffering through their worst start to a season in team history but appear to be patiently weighing their options. While time is quickly running out for them to turn their season around, they are about to receive reinforcements that they hope will help.

Thomas Bryant and Dennis Schroder are close to making their season debuts and, according to Marc Stein (subscription required), the Lakers want to see their team at full strength before making any big trades.

In theory, that makes sense, but neither Thomas nor Schroder can help much with their biggest issue, 3-point shooting. Bryant does give them a stretch-five option as a career 35% 3-point shooter.

However, with the Lakers shooting just 30.1% on 31 threes per game, he won’t completely solve their shooting woes. The same could be said for Schroder, who’s below-league average as a shooter, though he does give the Lakers another ball-handler and playmaker.

The Los Angeles Lakers are taking an uncharacteristically patient approach.

Their decision to hold off on making any big trades until these players are further acclimated probably won’t do anything but dig them into a deeper hole. That’s unlikely to make LeBron James a happy camper but the Lakers need to figure out whether they are going to mortgage their future to try and win now.

Both James and Anthony Davis are only under contract for at least one more season and it’s entirely possible that both will be gone by 2024. Therefore, it wouldn’t make sense for them to trade both their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks to bolster this team. Instead, they could play out the season, let Russell Westbrook walk in free agency, and look to use their significant cap space to build a better roster for the 2023-24 season.

That would mean punting on this season, but the Lakers are clearly playing wait-and-see when they know they don’t really have that luxury. Of course, they don’t own their own pick since the New Orleans Pelicans have swap rights and they will almost certainly be losing out on a top-10 pick. That takes tanking off the table, not that it was a viable option with James and Davis. Still, without a blockbuster trade, the Los Angeles Lakers are as bad as a tanking team. Let that sink in.

All in all, the addition of Schroder and Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to hold off on any deals are delaying the inevitable. This season appears to be a lost cause, no matter what they do.