The Los Angeles Lakers are 3-10 on the year and currently find themselves in 14th place in the Western Conference.
Although nobody thought this roster was good enough to compete for an NBA championship in 2022-23, few thought it would result in L.A. being the worst team in the league either.
Understandably, fans are looking for something, anything to suggest that a reprieve might be on the horizon.
Late Tuesday, a tweet seemed to signal that help might be on the way:
Rob Pelinka and Jesse Buss are on my flight to Indiana. Lakers aren’t playing in Indiana. But. Buddy Hield trade coming ? pic.twitter.com/OHP0HCZJL2
— Frank Vogle (@SportEnthus562) November 15, 2022
Fans were immediately exuberant. Hield and Myles Turner are two players that Los Angeles has been linked to for months. The Indiana Pacers have expressed a willingness to give both up, should the Lakers part with their two remaining first round drack picks in this decade.
Thus far, the front office has resisted that hefty price tag – for a reason they have been quite open about.
Nevertheless, fans were psyched.
Adding further fuel to the fire was this message from Hield on Twitter that seemed to line up perfectly with everything that was happening:
Ayyooo
— Buddy Love !!!! (@buddyhield) November 16, 2022
Unfortunately, it genuinely looks like all the optimism here from Lakers fans is misplaced.
First of all, Pelinka wouldn’t need to go to Indiana to secure a deal for Hield and/or Turner:
PSA: trades aren’t finalized in person or the city of the team you’re trading with. Teams can agree in principle on a trade by phone. Trades are then finalized on a call with the league office.
Pelinka doesn’t need to go to Indy to get this done. Let’s not embarrass ourselves
— LakersGuru (@GuruLakers) November 16, 2022
Secondly, they were almost certainly there for a college basketball event:
They are there for the champions classic NCAA event to scout Kentucky, mich st, Kansas and Duke. Trades are made over the phone or zoom not in person lol
— joe_b (@samlaker) November 16, 2022
Obviously Hield would help this group out immensely. He is shooting nearly 41 percent from beyond the arc this season. The Lakers, conversely, are the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA this year by a fairly significant margin.
That said – all the excitement over the past 24 hours is likely for naught.
Over the past few days the Lakers have emerged as one of two legit trade suitors for Bojan Bogdanovic of the Detroit Pistons, have shown interest in three free agent sharpshooters and have been linked to a possible trade with the San Antonio Spurs.
When Christian McCaffrey is involved someone’s always landing on the injury report. https://t.co/Lom2gUjgC5
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 16, 2022
If anything ends up happening, it will likely happen on that front.
The Pacers’ asking price just seems to be too high.
When Christian McCaffrey is involved someone’s always landing on the injury report. https://t.co/Lom2gUjgC5
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 16, 2022
Will Pelinka be able to find a way to fix this Lakers group at some point in the foreseeable future?
Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
