Lakers reset: Has waiting actually helped the team’s trade leverage?

Editor’s note: This is the Monday, November 28 edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Reviewing another week with more Ws than Ls for the Lakers – even if they haven’t been beating up top-drawer competition, they’re still trending in the right direction:

WEEK IN REVIEW

Tuesday, L, Phoenix Suns 115, Lakers 105
Friday, W, Lakers 105, San Antonio Spurs 94
Saturday, W, Lakers 143, San Antonio Spurs 138

The Lakers (7-11) are 13th in the Western Conference standings, 5.5 games behind the first-place Phoenix Suns (13-6). They’re two games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves (10-10) for a play-in slot.

HIGH POINT: It was a huge sigh of relief for the franchise that LeBron James was able to return Friday, and that he looked pretty good, too. After a woefully inefficient start to the season, James helped secure a defense-first, possession-focused win on Friday night with Anthony Davis continuing his double-double streak. It was the Lakers’ first road win of the season, and helped put together a blueprint of how a healthy roster could actually make noise.

LOW POINT: On the one hand, the Lakers may look back on the loss in Phoenix as an important team-building moment: When Patrick Beverley shoved DeAndre Ayton in the back for lording over Austin Reaves, many players took that as a sign of Beverley being a good teammate. On the other hand, the Lakers only lost once this week, and they didn’t make stops down the stretch, spoiling one of Davis’ best games of his Lakers’ tenure. Just one game before James’ return, it was worth wondering whether James could have turned the tide in what was, up through a half, a very competitive affair with one of the West’s best teams. Beverley probably won’t look back on this too fondly either once the NBA docks three games of salary from his paycheck.

TRENDING TOPIC: The Lakers are very nearly at the 20-game mark of the season, a checkpoint which various media reports have said they would reach before deciding whether roster changes are necessary. The Lakers aren’t in the 2-10 pit they were at the start of the season, but they haven’t been so impressive as to blow anyone’s socks off. And conveniently, they start the week against the Indiana Pacers, who had Myles Turner seemingly campaigning for the Lakers to trade their first-round draft picks to pick him up with teammate Buddy Hield.

As the Southern California News Group has reported before, the Lakers have been willing to wait to make a trade involving Russell Westbrook’s contract for a few calculated reasons. One was the hope that Westbrook, who seemed fundamentally checked out and denied almost all accountability after last season’s disastrous campaign, might rehabilitate his trade value under a new coach. Another big motivation was to see how the standings would shake out, and if any team might be more willing to trade to improve its odds for expected overall pick Victor Wembanyama.

Nearly a quarter of the way through the season, none of these factors seem to have markedly added leverage for the Lakers. Westbrook has played good games since Coach Darvin Ham moved him to the bench, but you’d be hard-pressed to say he’s in demand. He’s averaging 14.8 points, 7.4 assists, 5.2 rebounds, but he’s still shooting under 40% from the field, sports one of the highest turnover rates on the team (13.9%) and comes and goes on defense. The Lakers have a minus-2.9 net rating when he’s on the floor.

You may remember the supposed “historic race to the bottom” for Wembanyama – that certainly hasn’t become obvious yet, especially with the trade partners the Lakers have been linked to since before the season. The Pacers and Jazz in particular are doing better than most predicted so far, and another potential deal might have crumbled for the time being when Charlotte’s Gordon Hayward was diagnosed with a fractured shoulder this weekend.

Did waiting actually improve the Lakers’ chances of making a more favorable deal? It’s hard to argue that at this point. Of the Lakers and their potential trade partners, they’re still under the most pressure to make a trade, especially with signs that Davis and James might actually return to form. Over the last 13 games, the Lakers have improved from bad to mediocre: They’re pulling a zero net rating, shooting pretty well from the floor (48.7%) and even OK from three (35.8%). The defensive rating (112.4) has slumped, but with Davis and James healthy, there’s reason to hope they can get centered into competing night-in and night-out.

The thing the Lakers have sacrificed is time: After trades, new groups take time to coalesce. If the Lakers bring in Turner and Hield, for example, there would probably be growing pains for those newcomers to fit into the system – and at the moment, would the Pacers say “yes” given that they look like a very legitimate play-in candidate given some of the teams that are struggling? ESPN reported Monday morning that any deal is now unlikely to take place before January at the earliest.

Perhaps other deals that haven’t been floated in media reports materialize for the Lakers. But it’s pretty difficult at the moment to see the right mix of desperation, draft incentive, contender pieces and contract matching that would create an opportunity for the Lakers to keep one of the first-round picks they don’t really want to give up. The entire NBA can see the hand they’re playing with and what they have at stake. Maybe 20 more games from now, that changes a little bit, but maybe it doesn’t. And maybe a little more sand escapes the hourglass.

READ OF THE WEEK: Staying on theme here, I analyzed why Anthony Davis’ resurgence might put more pressure on management to make a roster-improving trade.

HEATING UP: In the equations of any trade deal, there has to be consideration for what the Lakers retain. Lonnie Walker IV has recently looked like a quality third piece if the team is able to move on from Westbrook. He’s a bit streaky and his efficiency can vary quarter-to-quarter, but his impact in the first half in the first game against San Antonio and the final quarter in the second game against San Antonio is pretty hard to miss. In the last week (which the Lakers have missed James or Davis in two of the three games), Walker averaged 20.3 points and 1.3 steals on 50% shooting and 9 for 20 from deep. The Lakers were plus-20 in his minutes. He may already be the third-best player over Westbrook.

COOLING DOWN: On paper, Juan Toscano-Anderson made a lot of sense for the Lakers this summer. He’s a veteran with a blue-collar career path, a defense-first mentality and he plays at a position of need. He missed a few games with back soreness, but even when healthy, he’s been unable to crack the rotation at all. It’s worth watching whether assistant Phil Handy can help unlock some facets of his game, especially his wonky shooting motion. As long as the Lakers continue to play smaller lineups, there should be some form of opportunity for Toscano-Anderson to find a way on the court if he can turn around his cold start.

INJURY REPORT: The biggest question going into Monday night is Anthony Davis’ availability with a left calf bruise, but the big man didn’t seem too concerned about the injury on the way out of San Antonio, and Ham described his absence from the lineup Saturday as “cautionary.” James is listed as probable with his adductor strain; Westbrook wasn’t listed at all despite his head wound that gashed all over your TV on Saturday. Beverley has one more game of his suspension.

QUOTABLE: Let’s give it to Pat Beverley describing his confrontation with Ayton: “I’m not going for that (expletive). That’s what I saw. Obviously it’s unfortunate that it happened on national TV, but you know me, regardless of what’s going on I’m a big fan of protecting my teammates. … I’m a foxhole guy. I put on the jersey and I commit to a team, I commit to a city and it’s kind of my motto.”

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The Lakers have won five of their last six games, but with respect to how hard winning in the NBA can be, they haven’t beaten a team with a winning record in that stretch – and three of the victories came against the same team. Can they beat anyone real? Early week tests against the better-than-expected Pacers and Trail Blazers are good litmus tests to see if the progress the team has hinted they’ve made applies to more competitive teams than the Spurs and Pistons. Their big issues with defensive rebounding, transition defense and turnovers will be put to actual rigorous tests, leading up to a tough road game in Milwaukee that is sure to be emotional for Ham.

COMING UP (All times PT)

Monday, Indiana, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Portland, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, at Milwaukee, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday, at Washington, 3 p.m.

– Kyle Goon

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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