The Lakers currently have a winning percentage of less than 50%, which means they need to make a move before this year's trade deadline and upgrade the lineup. But the problem is that there aren't many valuable trading assets in this Lakers lineup at the moment.
First of all, James and Davis are players who are unlikely to be put on the shelf, of course, it is estimated that no other team will be willing to take over Russell Westbrook's contract of $47 million in the 2022-23 season, as for most of the current Lakers' base salary players.
However, the Lakers can still put the 21-year-old Tarren Horton Tucker, Kendrick Nunn and the 2027 or 2028 first-round draft picks on the shelves. In addition, the Lakers have some second-round draft picks and $4.4 million worth of trade exceptions, which are basically all the chips in the Hands of the Lakers.
Based on the current situation within the Lakers, the above assets also involve some controversial topics. First of all, Tucker's overall performance so far this season has been mediocre, the 26-year-old Nunn has not yet played any games for the Lakers, and the future first-round draft pick will be an important rebuilding asset for the Lakers to enter the post-James era.
Therefore, it is estimated that the Lakers will have a hard time reinforcing All-Star or All-Star marginal players before the trade deadline, such as Ben Simmons, Miles Turner or Gerald Grant. So what else can the Lakers do? According to "Open Air Stand" reporter Eric Pingus, the Lakers can completely lower expectations and target players such as Terrence Rose or Eric Gordon:
Theoretically, both of these are players who are very suitable for the Lakers, the 30-year-old Rose is a player who can have a good scoring ability on the outside, and the 33-year-old Gordon has averaged 18.3 points and 37.2% three-point shooting so far this season.
While giving up a young player like Tucker would indeed be a big loss for the Lakers, it would also be a sacrifice that must be made if they still wanted to save the season, and as mentioned above, both Terrence Rose and Eric Gordon would be a good choice for the Lakers.