Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly considered trading for several players ahead of Thursday's 3 p.m. ET deadline, including former Boston Celtics guard Dennis Schroder and New York Knicks forward Cam Reddish, according to The Athletic's Bill Oram. 

A three-team deal for Reddish, which also would have included Raptors center Khem Birch, reportedly fell through because New York and Toronto couldn't agree on draft compensation. 

A deal for Schroder, who played in L.A. last season, wasn't reached because "there was some pushback from some in the organization" about a reunion with the veteran guard, Oram notes. However, Boston's asking price for Schroder was reportedly the bigger factor in preventing a deal.

Oram wrote:

The Lakers were at a disadvantage as teams around the league saw them operating out of desperation, and wanted to force Rob Pelinka, the vice president of basketball operations, to take on bad contracts or spend what little draft capital the Lakers had left, including the 2027 first round pick, to facilitate any deals.

The Celtics reportedly traded Schroder, Bruno Fernando and Enes Freedom to the Houston Rockets for Daniel Theis, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

Reddish, who was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Knicks in January, remained in New York. 

Reddish's fit with the Knicks is still unclear. Since being acquired by the franchise, he has failed to carve out a role in Tom Thibodeau's rotation, having played just five games. 

He is averaging 4.0 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 25 percent from the floor in 10.0 minutes per game for the Knicks. He might have been in for a more significant role in L.A. but wouldn't have provided the type of spacing the team needs alongside LeBron James.

Schroder, meanwhile, is averaging 14.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from deep in 49 games. He would have been a solid addition for the Lakers, considering Russell Westbrook's struggles. 

Last season for L.A., Schroder averaged 15.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists while shooting 43.7 percent from the floor and 33.5 percent from deep in 61 games. He also averaged a career-high 32.1 minutes per night for the Purple and Gold.

However, it's unlikely a deal for Reddish or Schroder would have helped the franchise turn things around. 

The Lakers entered the 2021-22 campaign with high expectations after making numerous roster changes, including trading for Westbrook, but it sits ninth in the Western Conference with a 26-30 record.

Some of that inconsistency has to do with the fact that both LeBron James and Anthony Davis, among others, have missed time because of injury. However, a large part of it has been Westbrook's poor roster fit.

Given the albatross Westbrook's contract has become and L.A.'s lack of draft capital, it isn't surprising the Lakers stood pat.

Despite their recent struggles, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks did not make any trades before Thursday's NBA trade deadline.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers plan on exploring the buyout market following the deadline.

Marc Berman of the New York Post added that the Knicks have one roster spot remaining and "can be a player" in the buyout market as well.

Despite having won a championship two years ago and being anchored by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers are a disappointing 26-30 this season and stuck in ninth place in the Western Conference.

Some of the Lakers' issues can be attributed to James and AD missing significant time due to injury, but they haven't really found their stride with both players healthy in recent games either.

L.A. has lost two games in a row and six of its past eight, including an embarrassing 107-105 loss Wednesday to a Portland Trail Blazers team that traded CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington, and was without Damian Lillard due to injury.

While the Lakers conceivably would have liked to have improved on the trade market, they didn't have many enticing pieces to offer.

The only player on their roster besides James or Davis who is guaranteed to be under contract next season is Talen Horton-Tucker, who has struggled this season.

The Lakers would seemingly like to move on from Russell Westbrook as well amid his inefficiency and turnover issues, but no team would be willing to take on his $44 million salary and $47 million player option for next season.

While the Lakers are perhaps the biggest disappointment in the NBA since they have championship aspirations, the Knicks may not be too far behind.

New York was one of the league's most pleasant surprises last season, reaching the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it has been a different story this season.

At 24-31, the Knicks are 12th in the East and wouldn't even be part of the postseason play-in tournament if the season ended today.

While RJ Barrett is a promising offensive player with star potential, Julius Randle has taken a big step back from his breakout 2020-21 season, and veterans like Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier and Alec Burks haven't performed to the level most expected.

Also, the Knicks acquired Cam Reddish from the Atlanta Hawks for Kevin Knox and a first-round pick, but it has been a disastrous move, as Reddish has barely been part of the rotation, averaging 10.0 minutes per game in five appearances.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported early Thursday morning that the Lakers, Knicks and Toronto Raptors had discussed a three-team trade that would have sent Reddish and Burks from the Knicks to the Lakers, Goran Dragic and draft picks from the Raptors to the Knicks, and Horton-Tucker and Nerlens Noel from the Lakers and Knicks, respectively, to the Raptors.

Neither the Lakers nor the Knicks ended up getting anything done, but based on the amount of movement there was at the deadline, there should be plenty of useful players bought out and available without having to give up assets.

The 26-30 Los Angeles Lakers have gone 5-11 in their last 16 games and currently hold down ninth place in the Western Conference. Their season is in a tailspin, and a move could be on the horizon with the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline approaching Thursday.

However, it appears "very unlikely" that any transaction will involve sending point guard Russell Westbrook out of town, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

"It is very unlikely," Wojnarowski said on NBA Today when studio host Malika Andrews asked about the Lakers' "current mindset" in regards to trading Westbrook with the deadline nearing. "I am told they are not engaged on the Russell Westbrook front."

Westbrook has struggled in his first season with the Lakers. His 15.1 player efficiency rating is the worst mark of his 14-year career, per Basketball Reference.

Westbrook can become a free agent after this season, but he has a $47,063,478 player option for 2022-23. Ultimately, his contract terms make dealing Westbrook anywhere difficult.

The Lakers landed Westbrook, a nine-time All-Star who also won the 2016-17 NBA MVP award, in a blockbuster trade with the Washington Wizards last offseason.

He was supposed to form a new big three with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as L.A. looked to return to the NBA Finals after winning it all in 2020 but failing to advanced past the first round in 2021.

That hasn't happened. James is playing at an MVP level but has been sidelined with injuries. Davis has also been out on occasion. Together, the team's top three stars have started just 18 of a possible 56 games. That trio has gone 10-8 together.

Westbrook's shot has been off all year, and turnovers have been an issue as well.

Still, Westbrook has proven to be a far better player than he's shown this season, and the fact that he's been unable to form much chemistry with James and Davis has clearly hindered the team's progress.

At this juncture, the Lakers appear to be riding it out with the trio and hoping for better results. It's possible L.A. makes some cosmetic changes to the veteran-laden roster around the group, but Westbrook appears to have a home in L.A. through the end of the season.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley is among those reveling in the Los Angeles Lakers' misery this year.

Speaking to reporters about Beverley's defensive reputation in 2019, Lakers star Russell Westbrook said he "trick y'all" and "don't guard nobody." Well, Beverley clearly has a long memory:

The cold war between these two dates back to the 2013 playoff series between Beverley's Houston Rockets and Westbrook's Oklahoma City Thunder.

Beverley went for a steal after Westbrook called a timeout, and the nine-time All-Star suffered a knee injury that took him out for the rest of the postseason. While the 60-win Thunder won that series, they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the conference semifinals without Westbrook.

Fast-forward to the present, and Westbrook is slogging through perhaps the worst season of his career. Through 55 games, he's averaging 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists. He's shooting 43.5 percent from the field, and his three-point percentage has dipped below 30 percent (29.8) for the fourth time in five years.

L.A., meanwhile, is 26-30 and ninth in the Western Conference.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported Wednesday that Lakers players acknowledge "something must be done to get the team back on course with Thursday's trade deadline fast approaching."

Bill Oram of The Athletic went a step further and reported the Lakers "no longer believe they can win at a high level" with Westbrook as the third star to complement the Anthony Davis and LeBron James partnership.

The 33-year-old got benched toward the end of a 122-115 overtime victory over the New York Knicks last Saturday. It was the second time this year head coach Frank Vogel took him off the court in the end stages of a close game.

Westbrook has always been polarizing in that some have questioned the utility of his ball-dominant approach and how to properly judge his impressive individual numbers.

As Beverley made clear, it's open season for his biggest skeptics to have a field day with his and the Lakers' performances.

The Los Angeles Lakers' season might not be in the grave just yet, but that hasn't stopped their rivals from starting to dance.

Phoenix Suns guard Cameron Payne was the latest to clown the struggling Lakers, calling them the "worst team in the West."

"We the No. 1 team in the world and you worried about the f--kin' Lakers. They the worst team in the West," Payne said.

While the Lakers aren't actually the worst team in the West—hello, Houston...or Oklahoma City, depending on the day—they are nowhere near competing for a championship. The Lakers lost for the sixth time in eight games Wednesday night against a depleted Portland Trail Blazers team that spent the better part of a week jettisoning nearly every valuable rotation player.

Legends James Worthy and Magic Johnson ripped the team following the loss, which ranked high among the most listless performances of the season. The Lakers turned the ball over 21 times and allowed Portland to haul in 11 offensive rebounds—a sign of dispassionate, lackadaisical basketball.

The Suns, meanwhile, have established themselves as the top team in the West and carry a 3.5-game lead over the second-place Golden State Warriors. They've spent the entire 2021-22 campaign proving last season's Finals run was no fluke and are arguably the championship favorite at the moment. 

The Los Angeles Lakers' season reached a new low Wednesday night, losing to a makeshift Portland Trail Blazers team that jettisoned nearly its entire roster of veteran players over the last week.

Hall of Famer James Worthy has seen enough. 

“This is the lowest point of just about any season I’ve seen as a Laker over the years. I don’t have any words for it because we’ve used all our words,” Worthy said on Spectrum SportsNet. “We saw Milwaukee come in and we thought that maybe, OK, that’ll be a measuring game against a good team and we saw what happened. And then against Portland, a team of professional players, but it was almost like they were playing against local [YMCA] pick-up group of guys.

“I think it just goes to show you how deeply, mentally disconnected [the Lakers are]. The inability to fire your brain up for game that you know you should win—or for any game for that matter—shows that there’s a really tough virus going on with this team right now that I don’t know what the medicine is. But this was really bad.”

The Lakers lost to a depleted Blazers roster despite shooting 55.4 percent from the floor, thanks in large part to committing 21 turnovers and giving up 11 offensive rebounds. It was the team's sixth loss in its last eight games, with this one coming without Russell Westbrook—the oft-cited scapegoat of the Lakers' failings.

The fact of the matter is the Lakers are a dispassionate, disappointing team with seemingly no room for improvement. They've been peddling a package of Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn to teams for months hoping for roster improvement but have found almost zero interest.

With the team helplessly capped out through at least next season, things could get a lot worse before they get better. 

If the Los Angeles Lakers decide to pursue a Russell Westbrook-for-John Wall trade, the Houston Rockets reportedly won't settle for a straight one-for-one deal.

Per NBA reporter Marc Stein in his Substack newsletter, the Rockets won't entertain the trade unless the Lakers include their 2027 first-round draft pick.

The Rockets originally acquired Wall for Westbrook in a December 2020 trade with the Washington Wizards. Houston also received a 2023 lottery-protected first-round draft pick in that deal.   

Ahead of Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, there is still no clear indication if the Lakers are going to move Westbrook.

B/R's Eric Pincus reported a Westbrook deal is "unlikely" unless LeBron James decides that Wall is a better fit for this Lakers roster and "is willing to push extremely hard for Westbrook's exit."

The inclusion of Los Angeles' 2027 first-round pick could make things a tricky proposition for the organization. 

Per ESPN's Brian Windhorst, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has been telling teams in trade discussions that they "are not willing to include" the pick in a deal. 

The New Orleans Pelicans have control of Los Angeles' first-round draft picks through 2026 as part of the compensation from the Anthony Davis trade.

Wall has not appeared in a game for the Rockets this season.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in November the five-time All-Star was in talks with Houston general manager Rafael Stone about a return-to-play plan, but it would likely require a compromise on both sides "between respecting his stature with a supermax contract and the Rockets' desire to have him play a complementary role to help develop their young core."

Wall and Westbrook have virtually identical contracts that would make it easy to facilitate a move from a financial perspective. Wall is earning $44.3 million this season with a $47.4 million player option for next season. 

Westbrook has a $44.2 million salary this season and a $47.1 million option for 2022-23. The 2016-17 NBA MVP has struggled in his first season with the Lakers. He is averaging 18.3 points on 43.5 percent shooting from the field, 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game.

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

Los Angeles currently sits in ninth place in the Western Conference with a 26-30 record and has lost 11 of its past 16 games.    

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James struck an exasperated tone following Wednesday's 107-105 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

"I’m tired as hell right now," James told reporters.

The four-time MVP explained how the grind of the regular season is made worse when your team is falling short of expectations.

The Lakers are 3-7 over their last 10 games and sit ninth in the Western Conference at 26-30.

This is another case of James offering some blunt honesty amid Los Angeles' on-court struggles. He said the Lakers aren't on the level of the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks and may not be able to get there after a 131-116 defeat Tuesday.

Having its best player vent his public frustration can sometimes galvanize a team for the stretch run.

The Lakers' problem is that it's difficult to see any path forward—at least one in which they become a genuine title contender.

The Athletic's Bill Oram and ESPN's Dave McMenamin filed similar reports Wednesday, laying out how the organization has come to the conclusion something needs to change.

Oram went so far as to report the Lakers "no longer believe they can win at a high level" with Russell Westbrook as the third star alongside James and Anthony Davis. McMenamin didn't single out Westbrook but reported broad "suspicion had been mounting for weeks, if not months, for a Lakers team built with a title in mind."

Pivoting off Westbrook isn't easy when he counts for $44.2 million this season and has a $47.1 million player option for 2022-23.

Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus reported the 2016-17 MVP is unlikely to be moved before the trade deadline but that Los Angeles might sign off on a deal if James makes a preference for John Wall clear.

"The Rockets are open to making a deal, but only if the Lakers are willing to pay to play," Pincus wrote. "But top Lakers executive Rob Pelinka may be hesitant to acknowledge the Westbrook move was a failure, let alone give up the team's sparse assets to make him go away."

Assuming the status quo remains the same, the Lakers are likely to remain mired in their current funk, at which point LeBron may continue evolving into Roger Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon and get progressively too old for this.

Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson joined much of the team's fanbase in a state of disbelief about the struggles of this season's squad.

Johnson reacted on Twitter after L.A.'s 107-105 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night:

The Lakers have now dropped six of their last eight games, with their record falling to 26-30, which ranks ninth in the Western Conference.

A significant offseason roster overhaul, highlighted by the acquisition of Russell Westbrook, hasn't produced the desired results. The issues were further compounded by injury absences for LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

All three stars were on the court for the past few games, and it still didn't lead to a major uptick in team-wide performance, though. Russell Westbrook missed Wednesday's contest with lower back tightness.

The Lakers showed some promising signs in the loss to the Blazers, shooting 55.4 percent from the field and knocking down 17 threes, but they also turned the ball over 21 times and allowed 11 offensive rebounds by Portland in the narrow loss.

"Every time we turned the ball over, it was almost like pick-sixes. We didn't get a tackle, and they basically ran it in for a touchdown every time," James told reporters. "That's not the ingredients for winning basketball."

Now the focus shifts to Los Angeles' front office to see whether it makes any notable deals ahead of Thursday's NBA trade deadline.

"If there's ways to improve our team, we'll try to improve our team," head coach Frank Vogel said. "Other than that, I got nothing to say about the trade deadline."

Barring a significant addition, either via trade or free agency if some notable players are bought out after the deadline, the Lakers may struggle to make a significant move up the standings during the stretch run of the regular season.

In other words, the sense of bewilderment felt by Johnson and other Lakers fans isn't guaranteed to go away any time soon.