Lakers Trade Rumors: LA Should Not Pursue Taj Gibson at Deadline

The Los Angeles Lakers need to stop what they're doing and get it through their heads that now is not the time to add talent.

Sean Deveney of Sporting News reported last week that the Lakers have shown interest in Chicago Bulls power forward Taj Gibson.

"In recent weeks, he [Gibson] has not played with the energy for which he has been known, and there has been speculation that he is frustrated with the addition of Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol (though his playing time has not changed much)," he wrote.

While his drop in minutes per game is negligible—from 28.7 last season to 28.4 this year—it's clear that his role is different. He averaged 13.0 points and took 10.9 shots per game last season. Now he's taking just 8.6 shots and scoring just 10.6 points.

According to TurnerSportsPR, NBA legend Reggie Miller thinks Gibson has truly taken one for the team:



Gibson would certainly start on this Lakers team. That's not a knock against forwards Ed Davis, Tarik Black, Jordan Hill and Robert Sacre, as they have done their best to make up for the big loss of rookie Julius Randle early in the season.

Hill and Davis have been quite good. Black has shown flashes of promise. Sacre is nothing special but solid enough off the bench, if nothing else.

However, Gibson represents a true upgrade. He hustles, plays solid defense and has nice touch around the rim. He's a career 48.4 percent shooter in just under 25 minutes per game. That type of production would help this current roster.



The current roster doesn't need help, though.

At 13-40 just hours before the NBA's All-Star festivities get underway, the Lakers need to be blown up. Kobe Bryant is out for the year. With one year left on his contract, Bryant needs talent around him to compete in 2016. This current squad can't do that.

Now is the time to deal away the likes of Hi...

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