National Basketball Association

Lakers stay quiet at trade deadline after tough Portland loss

Published Feb. 10, 2022 7:40 p.m. ET

The NBA's trade deadline has come and gone, and through all the trade action on a busy day of deals, the Los Angeles Lakers remained notably silent.

It was a disappointing outcome for Lakers fans, who just the night before watched their beloved troupe fall 107-105 to a Portland Trail Blazers squad that was depleted by recent trades of CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington.

The Lakers surrendered 21 turnovers to Portland's 11, while every member of the team's starting five had a plus/minus at or below 0. LeBron James accounted for six of those giveaways, including two big ones late in the fourth quarter.

The loss marked L.A.'s sixth in its past eight outings.

"Obviously, this is something that's weighing on this group that we're all trying to get through," James said after finishing with 30 points, seven boards and seven assists to go with the six TOs. "Almost feels like it's a fog, just fog in the air. And we're all trying to see what's on the other side of it."

Russell Westbrook was sidelined for the game with a sore back.

James, though, alluded to potential rays of hope ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.

"I feel good about what tomorrow has in store, and we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens as far as the deadline, but other than that, I'm kind of just focused on what we can do to be better. Literally just — I'm tired as hell right now," he added. "I just want to get some wine and get up tomorrow."

Frank Vogel didn't sound as optimistic ahead of the deadline: "If there's ways to improve our team, we'll try to improve our team. Other than that, I got nothing to say about the trade deadline."

And apparently, neither did his front office. At least in the public eye.

Behind closed doors, the team was reportedly furiously scrambling to make a deal involving one of its younger pieces — Talen Horton-Tucker or Kendrick Nunn. A Westbrook deal was believed to be nearly impossible given his $41 million salary.

But by 3 p.m. ET, the doors had been slammed shut without a deal, and the Lakers are now forced to peruse the buyout market for teams dumping veteran contracts.

It's a massive disappointment for Skip Bayless, who wanted L.A. to part ways with Westbrook for Houston's John Wall.

"You have to get out from under Russ, at any price, at any cost," Bayless said Thursday morning on "Undisputed", prior to the deadline.

"If you have to pay to get rid of him, it will still be addition by subtraction. I favor the John Wall scenario. Wall is a Klutch client, so at least he's in the fold with Rich Paul and LeBron.

"Russell Westbrook is as delusional a sports figure I've ever encountered. I've written him off since his early days with Kevin Durant as nothing but a solo act of a stat machine. He's now losing a little bit of his athleticism, he can't play much defense, and he can't stat quite the way he used to stat. He's always been a poor 3-point shooter, but he wasn't always a poor free-throw shooter. He got away with it in OKC, Houston and the Wizards with no expectations."

Shannon Sharpe also believes a deal was necessary.

"Orlando had just beaten the brakes off of Portland," he said.

"They had lost five straight at home. This was an opportunity to say ‘see, remove [Westbrook]', and you beat ’em by 20. This was embarrassing. They had 21 turnovers, LeBron had six, Anthony Davis refused to shoot the basketball in the fourth quarter. He took 11 shots. Is he protesting? Does he want to leave? I don't know what that was. You're supposed to beat an Anfernee Simons-led Portland team. They scored 18 points in the first quarter. That's on Anthony Davis and LeBron James."

Shannon Sharpe on Lakers: "They mailed this one in"

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According to Chris Broussard, this team's problems are much deeper than Westbrook's shortcomings.

"We saw last night, that for all his struggles, Russell Westbrook is not the only problem with the Lakers," Broussard stated on "First Things First."

"They've got two other issues when it comes to winning a championship. One is Anthony Davis. We talked earlier this week like ‘AD is coming back looking great, 30 and 15 in last four, five games. Well, he's back to being AD. How in the world do you face Giannis and take 10 shots? And then last night against a G League team when the sky is falling, he takes 11 shots. That's from the guy that should be your No. 1."

Broussard's second problem was focused right on the team's throne.

"LeBron, his numbers are terrific, and he's playing phenomenally for a guy that's 37 and in his 19th year. But can we stop saying he's as good as he used to be? He ain't! LeBron James could've beat that team by himself a few years ago. So for all the numbers, and they look great, he's not the dominant player that he has been throughout his career."

The Lakers currently have more problems than solutions, and no solution was found in the trade market Thursday.

This means their problem-solving methods are now going to require more internal reflection than ever before.