The Los Angeles Lakers are 0-2 to start their season and currently are the worst three-point shooting team in NBA history through two games.
Despite having all summer to get their shooting woes figured out, they’ve failed to do so.
It didn’t have to be like this.
Two players who have gotten off to strong starts this season are Dallas Mavericks big man Christian Wood and Los Angeles Clippers guard John Wall.
During a recent appearance on Brian Windhorst’s podcast, Ramona Shelburne and Dave McMenamin revealed that L.A. had the opportunity to nab Wall and Wood but ultimately passed.
“There was an iteration of the John Wall trade that included Christian Wood that would have involved more money,” McMenamin said.
“I’ve been told from other sources in Houston that there was a message that the Lakers were not willing to take on more money.”
Shelburne agreed.
“That’s kind of the word around the league that the Lakers were making calls, if there was a trade that made sense, they would do it,” she said.
“I’ve heard it described as ‘maybe half-hearted efforts.’ They would do something if it was low-hanging fruit but they weren’t really willing to feel any pain, whether that was luxury tax money, whether that was more encumberment in the future, whether that was draft compensation.
“In other words, they called, they tried to do some things but there wasn’t a sense of the same kind of urgency I think you heard from the players.”
Coming out of his most recent game, Russell Westbrook is already getting into fights with fans. The Lakers somehow have even less trade leverage with him now than they did before – and they didn’t have much before.
Windhorst has been very clear on where the Lakers go from here.
The photos don’t lie. https://t.co/adRmfaJTLU
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 21, 2022
By all accounts, things are going to need to get a lot worse before they can ultimately get better.
How will the Lakers turn this sinking ship around? Is it even possible at this point?
An answer will emerge soon enough.
Related: Mavs Coach Jason Kidd Responds To Christian Wood Criticism
Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
