When Is It Officially Time for LA Lakers to Trade Pau Gasol?

With the NBA trade deadline looming and the Los Angeles Lakers' season still not living up to expectations, it's time for the team to make some determinations about its future. One of those involves power forward Pau Gasol, and whether the team should move him sometime between now and the trade deadline.

The first inclination would be for the Lakers not to trade Gasol. After all, he's a four-time All-Star, he was voted to the All-NBA second team as recently as 2010-11 and he was a key cog in two championship victories for Los Angeles.

Also, with Pau on the team, the Lakers are certainly a more talented team. Not many teams, if any, can boast four potential future Hall of Famers like L.A. can with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard and Gasol.

The problem is that despite all that talent, the Lakers are struggling. Although they've won two games in a row, their record still sits at a subpar 17-21. If the season ended today, Los Angeles would be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs, as the team's currently trailing the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers by three games.

Furthermore, based on what we've seen out of Gasol through the first half of the season, he's seemingly part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.

His style of play doesn't mesh well with head coach Mike D'Antoni's system. So far, it's been a major contributing factor in making this the worst season in Gasol's career.

Pau's numbers are down across the board. His 12.2 points-per-game average represents the worst of his 11-year career. The same can be said for his field-goal percentage (.416), his PER (14.6), free-throw attempts per game (3.4) and his win shares per 48 minutes (.086)—they're all career lows.

It's fair to point out that the majority of Gasol's lackluster season has been played without the presence of Steve Nash. As one of the top point guards, and one that's well-versed in D...

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