Five Reasons the Lakers Will NOT Make a Trade

The NBA trade deadline is less than a month away, an exciting time for any NBA fan, but I’ve got bad news for any Laker fans hoping for another bit of deadline magic from Mitch Kupchak.  I’d like to see the Lakers make a deal as much as the next guy, but looking at the current state of the Lakers and the league, there are several reasons the Lakers figure to be standing pat this year:

Sorry, Laker fans, but the trade machine looks like it is out of order for LA this year.

1. Straight cash, homey. The Lakers’ luxury tax bill is the biggest obstacle to them doing anything before the trade deadline.  With as loathe as Jerry Buss seemed to be when it came to signing Lamar Odom to a single cent more than he got in his new contract, I have a hard time believing he is going to open up his checkbook again to add another piece to the team unless it is one that he feels is guaranteed to lead to another championship and I just don’t see any player out there that comes with that guarantee that the Lakers can actually acquire.  What is a real shame is that there are several teams out there that would love to dump some salary, so the Lakers could probably easily make a move featuring Adam Morrison’s expiring contract, but that means taking on more long-term money.  The Lakers though are carrying a $91 million payroll this year and have $84 million committed next year for only eight players.  They are going to have to use that $8 million cushion to round out the roster and don’t have the benefit of a first-round draft pack in 2010, so the idea of eating up a big chunk of that for just one more player may not sit well with the Laker accountants.
2. The Lakers have WANTS but not NEEDS.  LA isn’t the deepest team in the league, but they also don’t have any glaring needs on the roster.  They are clearly set up front, the return of Luke Walton has solidified the bench behind Ron Artest and Shannon Brown is doing a good job as the back-up shooting guard.  The only real upgrade they could stand to make is at starting point guard where Derek Fisher just isn’t getting it done on a consistent basis, however, I also don’t think the Lakers are ready to admit that.  Fish has done too much for them over the years and replacing him in the middle of the season would be an insult, even if it makes basketball sense.  Even still, Fisher has been pretty awful, but he isn’t killing the Lakers either, so finding an upgrade over him or Farmar would be more of a luxury than anything else.
3. Nobody wants to make the Lakers better. Jealousy can be an ugly thing, but even NBA executives aren’t above such petty emotions from time to time.  The league is still smarting from Mitch Kupchak’s thievery of Pau Gasol from Memphis and there are a lot of GM’s out there who don’t want to be the next one to draw the ire of their peers by serving up another key piece to a Laker championship.  Western Conference teams are probably the most prone to this line of thinking after seeing the Lakers dominate the conference the last few years.
4. Timing. If the trade deadline was a month ago, the Lakers probably would have made a trade, but since it is actually a month from now, circumstances in Laker Land are much better.  The bench was just brutal to start the season, but they have really rounded into form of late.  Both Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar have taken their game up a whole new level thus far this month, add to that Luke Walton returning to the line-up to serve as a steadying hand for the bench mob and suddenly the bench doesn’t look like a problem anymore.
5. The Lakers lack trade assets.  What could really hinder the Lakers’ ability to make a move is that they only really have one trade chip, Ammo’s expiring contract.  That will work for some of the cash-strapped teams in the league (see the Hornets), but you can only get so much value from a straight salary dump.  The Lakers can’t even add in a first-round pick this year thanks to the Gasol trade (or next year since you can’t trade away consecutive first-round picks), so sweetening a deal is going to be pretty much impossible for the Lakers.  I am sure someone would give up an OK player for Morrison, but do the Lakers really need to add just an OK player?  Especially one that probably has a bad contract.

Tags: Adam Morrison, Derek Fisher, Jerry Buss, Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Mitch Kupchak, Rumors, Shannon Brown, trades