A star's name has come up on the NBA trade market, which can only mean one thing: The Los Angeles Lakers are throwing their hat into the ring.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported over All-Star Weekend that the Lakers and Houston Rockets are expected to pursue Goran Dragic if the Suns make him available before Thursday's deadline. From a Rockets perspective, this makes perfect sense. Houston would prefer a consistency upgrade from Patrick Beverley at the point guard spot and has a legitimate chance of winning the Western Conference.
From a Lakers perspective, this also makes perfect sense. Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash have returned from injury to recapture their All-Star form, while first-round pick Julius Randle looks like a superstar in the making. Coupled with Nick Young's surprising rise from inefficient gunner to the NBA's leader in shooting percentage and Wesley Johnson finally realizing his lottery potential, the Lakers are one player away from a deep playoff run.
Wait...none of those things happened? Nash, Bryant and Randle are out for the season? Young is having as much success from the field as his girlfriend does with Twitter beefs? Johnson is still not-great at basketball? And the Lakers are on pace to obliterate their franchise-worst season, which they set only a year ago?
Oh. My bad. Then trading for Dragic makes zero sense. Here's why.
Not Only Are the Lakers Bad, They Need to be Bad
Sitting at 13-40, the Lakers have the fourth-worst record in basketball. From a talent standpoint they're probably worse than the neophyte Timberwolves, who have enough NBA-level players to make up the two games separating them from the Lakers by the end of the season. The Knicks and Sixers out East will be competing down the stretch to out-tank one another.
All of this should result in the Lakers having the third- or fourth-best odds on lottery ni...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
