{"id":112717,"date":"2024-12-17T14:08:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=112717"},"modified":"2024-12-17T14:08:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:08:00","slug":"lakers-superstars-davis-lebron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/17\/lakers-superstars-davis-lebron\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Superstar Duo Are Off the Trade Table"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While the Los Angeles Lakers look to improve their current roster, at least two players are off the table. It&#8217;s no secret that those two players are the team&#8217;s superstars<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, LeBron James<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Anthony Davis.<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Despite the many stories linking either player in possible or mock trade scenarios, the team has confirmed that neither will be traded. This leaves the rest of the team up in the air.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Superstar Due Are Off the Trade Table<\/h2>\n<h3>Lakers Reiterate LeBron James &amp; Anthony Davis Won&#8217;t be Traded<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to The Athletic&#8217;s Jovan Buha, who has an inside track on all things Lakers, he recently reported that the team is not considering trading LeBron or AD. Unless James requests a trade, or Davis for that matter, the conversation would appear closed. James has a no-trade clause in his contract.\u00a0As for Davis, despite the Lakers troubles of late, he is having one of his overall best seasons as a Laker. <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/redicjj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">JJ Redick<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0has made it the central point of his game plan to direct the offense through Davis. A glimpse at his offensive stats is showing the payoff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A LeBron trade has rippled through the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/13\/nba-media-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">media and on NBA talk shows<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0lately, much more than it is closer to reality. The\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/16\/3-warriors-trade-targets-after-landing-dennis-schroder\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Golden State\u00a0Warriors<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0have taken the cake as a rumored trade destination primarily due to\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Steph Curry<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. While the hypothetical is fun to imagine\u2014Curry and James playing together in the NBA\u2014the chances of it coming to fruition were slim to none. Nevertheless, the recent update by Buha is more like a reiteration of LA&#8217;s stance on trading their two biggest stars. The front office has held this position for a while, even during this season. Perhaps the excitement around what the Lakers will do and all of the LeBron chatter forced them to re-establish their position.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>If Not Them, Then Who?<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It&#8217;s becoming increasingly hard to imagine\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/russeda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">D&#8217;Angelo Russell<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0surviving past the February trade deadline. He cheated death, so to speak, at last year&#8217;s deadline and then again this past offseason. This time around, though, something feels different. D&#8217;Lo almost has to be traded at this point, yes? Let the man breathe by sending him off. It&#8217;s also likely that\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vincega01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Gabe Vincent<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0will be included in any trades the Lakers make. To be blunt, he has not worked out in LA. Granted, he spent almost the entirety of last season on ice due to injury. Since returning to full health this year, though, he&#8217;s massively underperforming and can&#8217;t find the basket.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rui Hachimura<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0is another one that the Lakers could bundle in a trade. Although, like\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, the organization has expressed its desire to have Rui on the books long-term. The same goes for rookie Dalton Knecht, who has shown he can shoot teams right out of the building. It&#8217;s hard to see the Lakers giving him away as well. Suffice it to say that the Lakers do not have a lot of valuable trade pieces. That is, unless you bring up\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/17\/lakers-austin-reaves-third-option\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reaves<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, then we&#8217;re talking. There are two first-round draft picks to consider also. GM Rob Pelinka stated before the season&#8217;s tip-off that he would only use them under the right circumstances. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Whatever he and the front office decide to do over the coming weeks, rest assured that LeBron James and Anthony Davis will remain on the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the Los Angeles Lakers look to improve their current roster, at least two players are off the table. It&#8217;s no secret that those two players are the team&#8217;s superstars, LeBron James\u00a0and\u00a0Anthony Davis. Despite the many stories linking either player in possible or mock trade scenarios, the team has confirmed that neither will be traded. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":112721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,4721],"tags":[240,4556,509,4921,2279,38,759,1749,48],"class_list":["post-112717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-anthony-davis","tag-austin-reaves","tag-dangello-russell","tag-gabe-vincent","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-rob-pelinka","tag-rui-hachimura","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112733,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112717\/revisions\/112733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}