The Los Angeles Lakers are not making any of this easy on their fans.
This year has been particularly hard for those rooting for LA because it’s only gone from bad to worse.
After months of hoping, it’s become very obvious that this year’s Lakers will likely never be very good.
The Russell Westbrook experiment isn’t working, the offense and defense are now tanking, the majority of the team is terribly inconsistent.
In fact, the only consistent bright spot for the team seems to be LeBron James, who is battling Father Time and somehow winning.
With all of these issues, many people expected the Lakers to do so something before the NBA trade deadline but they didn’t.
The Lakers do not make a trade at the deadline…Yikes. 🤨 pic.twitter.com/wXXsgF8NmV
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 10, 2022
Instead, they sat still and that has left many shaking their heads.
Riding With Russ
The biggest question for LA before the trade deadline was this: what was Westbrook’s future?
Because of his hot-and-cold output this year, there were many calling for him to be traded to another team.
Yet, his massive contract and spotty performance made any sort of trade all but impossible.
The most plausible package would have seen Westbrook sent to the Houston Rockets for John Wall, a player who isn’t much better.
In the end, the Lakers decided against that because the Rockets’ asking price was too high.
That means that Westbrook is here to stay in LA – at least for the time being.
That’s a tough pill to swallow for many LA fans who see Westbrook as the main problem with the team.
However, it must be noted that Westbrook isn’t the sole reason LA is lacking.
In fact, he didn’t play at all during the Lakers’ surprising and humiliating defeat to a decimated Portland Trail Blazers team.
The Lakers just lost to a G League team while playing without the player they’ve benched and desperately trying to trade.
What a way to prove a point. pic.twitter.com/yr344JviSZ
— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 10, 2022
The problems with LA are so varied and so extensive that everyone deserves some of the blame.
The Young Talent Remains
There were very few other options at the trade deadline for LA.
One of them was sending away Talen Horton-Tucker, one of the promising young players who has been a rumored trade chip for a while.
However, LA didn’t do anything with THT either.
A year ago, Los Angeles fans would have freaked out if Horton-Tucker was traded.
He used to be one of the star players of the team and showed infinite potential.
Yet, he’s been lacking this year and his stats have plummeted.
So, the LA faithful wouldn’t have batted an eye if the front office traded him.
But that didn’t happen, officially confirming that LA wasn’t going to make a single move at the trade deadline.
They didn’t have my choices and the Los Angeles fanbase knew that but they expected to see some sort of movement, no matter how minor.
In the eyes of many Lakers followers, this trade deadline ended up being as disappointing as the rest of the season.
Many are now making peace with the fact that the Lakers aren’t getting better any time soon.
Because of massive contracts and few options, the Lakers are stuck…and the fans are stuck right along with them.
NEXT: Lakers Shock Fans With Trade Deadline Activity