Los Angeles Lakers

If the San Antonio Spurs buy out veteran Goran Dragic, it appears several teams will be interested in signing him. 

The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors could be interested in adding Dragic, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets are also reportedly interested in his services, Wojnarowski adds.

"Dragic is emerging as the top player on the buyout market with contending teams confident that he has stayed in excellent condition working out in South Florida and can contribute in short order on a new team," Wojnarowski wrote.

The Toronto Raptors traded Dragic to the Spurs at Thursday's deadline in exchange for Thaddeus Young. Dragic played in only five games for the Raps before leaving the team for personal reasons in November.

The 35-year-old averaged 8.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in his brief stint with Toronto.

The Spurs initially selected Dragic in the second round of the 2008 NBA draft. However, he never played a game for the franchise as his draft rights were traded to the Phoenix Suns.

Dragic has also played for the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat. He made a name for himself in six and a half seasons playing for Miami, averaging 16.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists while shooting 45.7 percent from the floor and 36.5 percent from deep.

Dragic isn't the player he once was, but he's still a serviceable veteran who can provide depth to any contending team. While it's unclear where he prefers to play, it appears that he'll have plenty of suitors to choose from. 

On back-to-back nights Tuesday and Wednesday, LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers lost to teams at opposite ends of the competitive spectrum: the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks and a Portland Trail Blazers team fresh off a complete roster teardown with eyes on the lottery.

Russell Westbrook was benched at the end of the loss to the Bucks, but the Lakers didn't have him to blame for the debacle in Portland, where the rest of their starters, including James and Anthony Davis, were outplayed and outworked by little-known fringe players such as CJ Elleby, Keljin Blevins and Greg Brown III.

In a season full of rock bottoms, that 24-hour stretch was another one. But it was in many ways the logical endpoint of the past year—and exactly what James signed up for.

The following day, at Thursday's trade deadline, Westbrook wasn't traded, and neither were any other Lakers. This wasn't entirely surprising. Nobody thought there would be an appetite among other teams to take on Westbrook's gigantic contract, not without general manager Rob Pelinka attaching the only first-round pick the Lakers even have left to trade.

Westbrook has become a popular target for blame among Lakers fans, but trading him for, say, John Wall likely wouldn't have solved much. Neither, at this point, will firing head coach Frank Vogel, the other figure who's taken the majority of public heat for the team's 26-30 record.

If there's anyone to blame for where the Lakers are right now, it's not Westbrook or Vogel. It's not Pelinka, either, who is nominally the general manager but can only do so much outside of the influence one of the best players in the sport's history wields.

This is the roster James wanted. He was heavily involved in recruiting Westbrook and pushing Pelinka to deal two important role players from the 2020 bubble title team, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma, along with capable backup center Montrezl Harrell, to Washington for the polarizing guard. The rest of the roster has mainly been filled out by players who are either James' close friends (Carmelo Anthony) or clients of his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports (Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn).

If there's a miscue that can be placed at the feet of Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss, it's the decision to let one of their most vital rotation players, defensive guard Alex Caruso, leave for Chicago in free agency over luxury-tax concerns after taking on Westbrook's enormous contract.

That's the kind of cost-cutting move the third-most valuable franchise in the NBA has no excuse to make with a 37-year-old all-time great in the waning years of his championship window, especially when James is still among the best players in the NBA despite his advanced age.

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This is the tradeoff James made in 2018. It's tough to believe he chose to sign with the Lakers because he was just so blown away by the vision Pelinka and Buss had for the roster. He picked them because he thought it would be cool to wear purple and gold, and because of the off-court opportunities that came with being a Laker.

"If I'm going to leave Cleveland again, it needs to be like what I dreamt of as a kid," James told a confidant leading up to this decision in 2018, according to Ken Berger for Bleacher Report.

Paul would later hint in a New Yorker profile last spring that Davis, another Klutch client, forcing his way out of New Orleans was his and James' idea.

Just as he did when he left Miami to return to Cleveland in 2014, James and Paul remade the roster to his liking, engineering the trade of promising prospects Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart along with a half-decade's worth of future draft picks to the Pelicans for Davis. That move can never be called a failure because it succeeded in winning James his fourth championship in 2020. But it also severely limited what they were able to do going forward.

During his second stint in Cleveland, which resulted in four straight Finals appearances and the most important and impactful of his four rings, James was always able to successfully pressure his front offices to radically remake his teams on the fly. From brokering the Andrew Wiggins-for-Kevin Love deal upon his arrival in 2014 to the JR Smith and Timofey Mozgov deals midway through his first season there to the 10-player shakeup at the trade deadline of his final year there in 2018, James was always able to get the Cavs to get him the help he needed.

He's had no such luck in Los Angeles since the 2020 championship, and it's largely his own doing. If he hadn't pushed so hard for the Westbrook trade, this year's Lakers roster would be both deeper and have more players to trade that other teams would actually want. If the Lakers hadn't balked at including Horton-Tucker (another Klutch client) in a trade for Kyle Lowry from Toronto at last year's deadline, they wouldn't be in a position now where Horton-Tucker was their only plausible trade piece and one that didn't get much interest as he's having a disappointing third season.

This is just what the Lakers are now. They aren't in the same zip code as the Western Conference contenders in Phoenix, Golden State and Memphis this year, and they don't have many avenues to get better in future seasons. They'll probably fire Vogel in the summer, but a coaching change won't improve a roster with no cap room and nothing to trade. Firing Pelinka won't fix those problems, either.

James got the team he wanted and it worked for a while—until it didn't. Now, the Lakers find themselves in the aftermath of all of that, and there doesn't appear to be a way out.

The Los Angeles Lakers decided to stand pat Thursday, failing to make any additions ahead of the trade deadline. However, that hasn't left head coach Frank Vogel any less confident in his current group of players being able to get the job done.

Vogel said Friday, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin:

It's a new day. I think our group had great energy today. Both in a team film session and in practice. I think there's just a natural reset energy to our group, knowing that the trade deadline has passed. This is the group that we put together to start the year. This is a group we believe in.

Vogel's comments come after vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said Thursday that he was in "alignment" with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who hold plenty of influence over the Lakers front office, about the decision to not make any moves: 

You can't force another team to present yourself with a deal that is going to make your team be better. That's up to them, and throughout this process, we had different things we looked at and like I've done in the past had conversations with LeBron and Anthony about it and I would say there's alignment here. And that's all that matters.

However, McMenamin reported Friday a source said Pelinka's statement was "totally false." According to McMenamin, Pelinka, James and Davis did not have a conversation on Thursday, and "there was no go ahead or okay to have inaction at the deadline."

It should be noted the Lakers did reportedly try to make some moves Thursday. According to The Athletic's Bill Oram, the Lakers considered trading for a few players on Thursday, including Dennis Schroder and Cam Reddish. 

A deal for Schroder was unsuccessful because "there was some pushback from some in the organization" about bringing back the veteran guard, who played for the Purple and Gold during the 2020-21 campaign. 

The Lakers' attempted deal for Reddish, which would have been a three-team trade with the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, wasn't reached because the other two franchises couldn't agree on draft compensation. 

In addition, L.A. reportedly shopped struggling point guard Russell Westbrook, per Yahoo Sports, but was unable to reach a deal. 

The Lakers have struggled mightily this season after undergoing a major roster makeover during the offseason in addition to dealing with injuries to both James and Davis. The team sits ninth in the Western Conference with a disappointing 26-30 record after being projected to be one of the best teams entering the 2021-22 campaign. 

Russell Westbrook didn't play in Wednesday's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers because of back tightness, and the Los Angeles Lakers guard partially attributed the physical issues to the extended time he has spent on the bench this season.

Westbrook said part of the problem is he is not used "to sitting down for long stretches," per Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group.

It's no surprise Westbrook is accustomed to playing significant minutes considering his Hall of Fame-caliber resume includes the 2016-17 MVP, nine All-NBA selections, nine All-Star nods, two scoring titles, three assist titles and a spot on the NBA's 75th anniversary team.

However, his first season with the Lakers has gone anything but planned.

He is shooting just 29.8 percent from three-point range from deep, and his 18.3 points per game would be his lowest mark since his second season in the league in 2009-10. It has been an awkward fit with the ball-dominant LeBron James, and Westbrook has been benched for crunch time in multiple games.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported the Lakers discussed sending Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for John Wall prior to Thursday's trade deadline but Houston wanted more in return.

Westbrook already turned heads with comments about sitting on the bench during Tuesday's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks when he told reporters he has "earned" the right to be on the floor in important moments. 

"I shouldn't have to hit any benchmark, to be honest," Westbrook said. "I've put a lot of work and I've got a lot of respect in this game. I don't got to hit a benchmark, or I shouldn't have to. I've earned a right to be in closing lineups."

Given those comments and his suggestion sitting on the bench contributed to his back tightness, it is clear the point guard isn't thrilled with the current situation.

The Lakers surely aren't thrilled with being 26-30 either as the team continues to struggle.     

LeBron James and Anthony Davis reportedly didn't support the idea of the Los Angeles Lakers not making any moves at the NBA trade deadline.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin said Friday that despite Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka saying he, LeBron and AD were in "alignment" when it came to not making a trade, a source close to James and Davis said Pelinka's statement was "totally false."

The Lakers have been one of the NBA's biggest disappointments this season, as they are only 26-30, which has them in ninth place in the Western Conference.

McMenamin noted that the Lakers held trade talks with the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks, but Pelinka was against including a first-round draft pick in any trade packages.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that the Lakers discussed a trade with Houston that would have seen them send guard Russell Westbrook to the Rockets for guard John Wall, but the inclusion of a first-round pick was a sticking point.

Prior to the deadline, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on the framework of a potential three-way trade between the Lakers, Knicks and Toronto Raptors that would have resulted in L.A. landing Cam Reddish and Alec Burks from New York.

That trade never happened either, and ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski later reported that the Lakers are expected to be players on the buyout market instead.

The superstar duo of James and Davis led the Lakers to a championship two seasons ago, and they could be a threat this season if both players are able to remain healthy, which hasn't been the case for much of the campaign.

The biggest issue is a lack of production around them, especially when it comes to Westbrook, who has become something of an albatross.

Los Angeles had little in the way of assets to offer teams at the deadline aside from a 2027 first-round draft pick, and if Pelinka was unwilling to part with it, there wasn't much that could be done.

There could be some intriguing options on the buyout market, though, including guards Dennis Schroder and Goran Dragic, who were both moved at the deadline.

It is possible the Lakers needed to make a bigger move to truly compete with the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies in the West, but that trade may not have been available to them even if they were willing to trade a first-rounder.

After passing on a Buddy Hield trade in favor of Russell Westbrook during the offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly tried to put together a deal involving both players last month. 

Per The Athletic's Sam Amick, the Lakers "showed covert interest in discussing possible Westbrook deals early on this season" with one such scenario involving Hield and the Sacramento Kings. 

Hield wound up being traded to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, along with Tyrese Haliburton and Tristan Thompson, for Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2023 second-round pick. 

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported in July that the Lakers and Kings were talking about a deal built around Kyle Kuzma to acquire Hield. 

Instead, the Lakers pivoted to acquire Westbrook from the Washington Wizards in August. They sent Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and the draft rights to Isaiah Jackson to Washington for the former NBA MVP. 

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said on Spectrum SportsNet's Backstage: Lakers show in December (h/t Jacob Rude of Silver Screen and Roll) that one reason they acquired Westbrook was to ease the burden on LeBron James:

I think in kind of building the roster in the offseason, obviously we made a big trade for Russell Westbrook to get another playmaker. ... We knew that as LeBron journeyed towards Year 19 in the league and then Year 20, we couldn't rely on him as the sole engine for our team, so we made that trade really wanting to dimensionalize the roster with a combination of versatility, guys that could shoot and also defenders.

Things haven't worked out for Westbrook or the Lakers in the five months since he was acquired. The nine-time All-Star is shooting 43.5 percent from the field (29.8 percent from three) and is averaging 4.1 turnovers per game in 55 starts.

Head coach Frank Vogel benched Westbrook in the fourth quarter of games against the New York Knicks on Feb. 5 and Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 8. 

Per Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, the Houston Rockets approached the Lakers about a Westbrook-for-John Wall trade ahead of Thursday's deadline. Los Angeles rejected the offer when the Rockets insisted on getting the Lakers' 2027 first-round pick in the deal. 

The Lakers have lost 11 of 16 games since Jan. 9 and are in ninth place in the Western Conference with a 26-30 record.

After failing to make a move before Thursday's trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers are holding out hope that roster upgrades will be available on the buyout market. 

Per The Athletic's Jovan Buha, the Lakers have interest in bringing back Dennis Schroder if he gets bought out by the Houston Rockets. 

Schroder, Enes Kanter Freedom and Bruno Fernando were traded by the Boston Celtics to the Rockets for Daniel Theis on Thursday. 

The Lakers tried to make a deal with Houston before the deadline, but Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported they rejected the Rockets' request to include their 2027 first-round draft pick as part of a package with Russell Westbrook for John Wall. 

Per The Athletic's Bill Oram, Los Angeles "kicked the tires" on a deal with the Celtics for Schroder. 

Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said they were "aggressive in a lot of conversations" to make a deal. 

"But ultimately we didn’t find a deal that had a net positive effect for the short term success of the team and the long term, and those are both things we consider," Pelinka explained.

Schroder knows the Lakers very well after playing for the team last season. He left as a free agent during the offseason, settling for a one-year, $5.9 million deal with Boston. 

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported on The Hoop Collective Podcast (h/t CBS Sports' Brad Botkin) last June that Schroder turned down a four-year, $84 million extension from the Lakers during the 2020-21 season. 

Schroder averaged 15.4 points and 5.8 assists per game in 61 starts with Los Angeles last year. The 28-year-old was putting up 14.4 points, 4.2 assists and shooting 44.0 percent from the field in 49 starts for the Celtics before being traded.    

While the biggest headline of the NBA's trade deadline Thursday was the move that sent James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers' decision to stand pat was also quite noteworthy.

After, the team that entered the season with seemingly realistic title expectations is an ugly 26-30 overall and 2-6 in the last eight.

Los Angeles apparently explored potential deals, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported a three-team deal featuring the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors that would have involved moving Talen Horton-Tucker "fell apart because of draft picks that would have needed to be included."

McMenamin also noted there were discussions about a possible Russell Westbrook-John Wall swap with the Houston Rockets that ultimately ended without a trade.

Horton-Tucker is a solid asset at 21 years old, and he is under contract next season with a player option for 2023-24. That means he is someone who could be a building block into the future for the Lakers.

He is averaging 9.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game but is shooting just 26.9 percent from deep.

Poor outside shooting is also a problem for Westbrook, who is hitting 29.8 percent of his three-point attempts. The future Hall of Famer who has a league MVP, two scoring titles and nine All-Star nods on his resume has been something of an awkward fit with the Lakers and was even benched in crunch time for multiple games.

"Frustration is mounting within the Lakers' locker room," McMenamin wrote. "Tuesday's loss to the defending-champion Milwaukee Bucks caused sources within the team to admit to ESPN that the roster is not working and changes were seen as essential to get the team back on course."

Alas, there were no trades for the team that is sitting in the No. 9 spot of the Western Conference standings and just four games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers in the race to even make the play-in tournament.

That means Horton-Tucker will remain as a role player as the Purple and Gold look to turn things around for the stretch run.

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly turned down a Russell Westbrook for John Wall swap with the Houston Rockets ahead of Thursday's NBA trade deadline, Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes told Inside the NBA.

Per that report, the Lakers balked at the deal after the Rockets asked for a first-round pick in the talks. 

Rockets offered John Wall for Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick but Lakers declined, per @ChrisBHaynes https://t.co/6wp807WBYi

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 11, 2022

Had a deal gone through, it would not have been the first time Westbrook and Wall were traded for each other. In 2020, the Houston Rockets sent Westbrook to the Washington Wizards for Wall and a 2023 protected first-round pick. 

Westbrook was then traded to the Lakers this summer for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and the No. 22 pick in the 2021 draft. 

One reason the two players keep finding themselves orbiting the same trade rumors is money. Westbrook is on a massive $44.2 million deal for this season and has a player option for $47.1 million next year. That cap hit makes him extremely difficult to move. 

Ditto for Wall, who is making $44.3 million this year and has a $47.3 million player option for next year. And Wall hasn't so much as played a single game for the Rockets this season, as the team is rebuilding around its young players such as Jalen Green. 

Were Westbrook playing better, however, he wouldn't be on the trade block. While the 33-year-old is averaging 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game, he's also shooting just 43.5 percent from the field, 29.8 percent from three and 66.5 percent from the charity stripe. 

It's become clear that Westbrook, a former MVP, is pressing:

[Westbrook's] hitting the side of backboards, he’s hitting airballs, he’s turning the ball over no rhyme or reason whatsoever. He is broken.”

—@stephenasmith on Russell Westbrook’s struggles pic.twitter.com/7EPbd2bP0e

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 10, 2022

Lakers guard Russell Westbrook argued Tuesday that "numbers would say" that he has "earned the right to be in closing lineups."
- Numbers suggest the opposite: Westbrook leads Lakers in minutes, team-worst plus-minus, career-low PER, career-high TO rate, leads league in TOs. pic.twitter.com/Os5ngV9mYi

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 9, 2022

I remember when somebody said all I do is run around and I trick y’all 😂 well my boy is The Real Magician this year.

— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) February 10, 2022

He also isn't a great defensive player, and his fit next to LeBron James—both have traditionally been ball-dominant players—has been a poor one. The past two games, Westbrook has found himself benched down the stretch, and he hasn't been pleased about the decision, telling reporters:

"You never know when you're coming in, you never know when you're coming out. You never know when you're playing, you never know... a bunch of things. And I'm speaking for me personally, so it's a difficult process to be able to figure out and create some rhythm and some consistency where we can actually see what we're able to do as a team, but those decisions are made by him and his coaching staff, and you've got to live with it and move on."

Russell Westbrook’s answer when asked what benchmarks he has to hit to be in the closing lineup: pic.twitter.com/Nobrx2ov8K

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 9, 2022

The Lakers, in turn, are just 26-30, ninth in the Western Conference, a shocking development for a team built around two superstars in James and Anthony Davis. 

But the Lakers weren't able to make any deals ahead of Thursday's trade deadline, leaving only the buyout market to Band-Aid over some of the team's clear wounds. And that means figuring out how to best utilize Russ, an equation the Lakers have yet to solve.

The Los Angeles Lakers were surprisingly quiet at Thursday's NBA trade deadline, failing to make a move to improve a struggling roster.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka explained the team's inactivity on the trade market, saying that the team couldn't find a deal that would be beneficial to its hopes of competing for a title this year.

"We were aggressive in a lot of conversations trying to improve the team. ... But ultimately we didn’t find a deal that had a net positive effect for the short term success of the team and the long term, and those are both things we consider," Pelinka said on a conference call, per Lakers reporter Mike Trudell.

The Lakers fell to 26-30 on Wednesday after a disappointing loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, who were very shorthanded because of trades and injuries. It was the sixth loss in the last eight games for Los Angeles, and the team has tumbled down to the ninth spot in the Western Conference.

Throughout this season, the Lakers have struggled to find consistency and that is thanks, in part, to a struggle to remain healthy. Star forward LeBron James has missed 17 games, while star big man Anthony Davis sat out 21 games. Polarizing point guard Russell Westbrook missed his first game of the year on Wednesday because of lower back tightness.

Trudell pointed out that Los Angeles has other options to improving its roster, such as the buyout market. The team also expects young point guard Kendrick Nunn, who hasn't played all season due to a knee injury, to return by late-March.

Pelinka said he thinks it's up to the organization as a whole to figure out how to get better with the pieces that are on the team right now.

"When it comes to finding success when a team is not winning, I think the most important action is for everyone to look in the mirror and be better," Pelinka said. "That includes the front office, it includes the coaches, it includes the players."

The Lakers will return to action on Saturday in a daunting matchup against the 41-14 Golden State Warriors.