{"id":119874,"date":"2025-01-24T11:16:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T16:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=119874"},"modified":"2025-01-24T11:16:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T16:16:02","slug":"lakers-davis-trade-deadline-desires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/24\/lakers-davis-trade-deadline-desires\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers, Davis Far From Same Page on Trade Deadline Desires"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pressure is still on for the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/24\/los-angeles-lakers-pursuing-reunion-with-former-guard-lonzo-ball\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lakers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to make another move. After a trade with Brooklyn to add wing depth, the team\u2019s weaknesses are still evident, and many point to the fact they\u2019re one or two pieces away from true title contention. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anthony Davis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recently added more fuel to the fire with recent comments to ESPN, while new reporting suggests the Lakers have taken a relaxed mentality when it comes to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/24\/lakers-jj-redick-trade-involvement\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trade market<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakers, Davis Far From Same Page on Trade Deadline Desires<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Davis Puts Pressure on Pelinka, Lakers Front Office<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Davis joined ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania for a <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1882620520484716829\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sitdown interview<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> prior to the Lakers-Celtics game Thursday night. He reflected on the 2019-20 championship team and believes this year\u2019s roster is somewhat close to reaching those same heights.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Davis:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cI think our \u201819-20 team was the perfect construction of a team. We had shooters, we had dawgs defensively, we had scorers. Everybody knew their role.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Charania:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cSounds to me like you\u2019re saying you guys are a couple of pieces away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Davis:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cWe are. We are, though. I really feel like we are.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He then doubled down on his remarks following LA\u2019s win over Boston, reiterating his desire to play power forward instead of center. It was a not-so-subtle shot at Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office to grant his wish after years of battling with other bigs. Since the Lakers\u2019 opening night in 2021-22\u2014when Davis became LA\u2019s full-time center\u2014AD has <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask?q=anthony+davis+stats+from+october+19%2C+2021+to+now\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">averaged<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 24.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">AD on the biggest advantage when he plays the 4: \u201cI just feel more effective. The front office knows that, I told them that every year I&#39;ve been here&#8230; I feel like personally I&#39;m a better player at the 4.\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fjyx3n8tvp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/fjyx3n8tvp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpectrumSN\/status\/1882685488261206045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 24, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>Windhorst: Lakers Lack Aggression on Trade Front<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It seems even with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/22\/lebron-james-anthony-davis-concerned-about-lakers-trade-ability\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">public pressure<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Davis and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/executives\/pelinro99x.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LeBron James<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Lakers don\u2019t hold the same aggressive mentality when it comes to making improvements to the roster. In evaluating the latest developments ahead of the deadline, ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst noted the Lakers have shown \u201clittle aggression\u201d when it comes to looking for trades, reluctant to part with\u2014you guessed it\u2014the team\u2019s future first-round picks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Lakers&#8217; recent discussions with teams show little sign of aggression, sources say, and those actions speak to their concern level about their stars at the moment,\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1882798309208686636\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Windhorst wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe Lakers have shown a reticence to put their future first-round picks into trades in recent seasons, and there&#8217;s no indication that position has shifted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of Rob Pelinka\u2019s talk about finding the best deal\u2014and seemingly not resting until it\u2019s done\u2014has gone out the window with every passing moment the Lakers don\u2019t pounce on acquiring help. The team still needs to not only alleviate Davis\u2019s concerns with center depth, but also shore up the guard slot. Previous reports have mentioned their interest in doing both, but interest does not equate to action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Going back to Davis\u2019s concerns, the Lakers have expressed interest in <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kesslwa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker Kessler<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/williro04.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Robert Williams III<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valanjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonas Valanciunas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all season long. The only problems? There is no progress on talks involving Valanciunas, no updates on a pursuit of Williams, and no change in the <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/pickuphoop\/status\/1882503118111601073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">asking price for Kessler<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014only that Danny Ainge has set the bar at an all-time high.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Last Word<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through all of the rumors, one thing is clear: time is ticking. The trade deadline is less than two weeks away, and the Lakers have yet to address their biggest concern\u2014both literally and figuratively. A blowout win against your biggest rival doesn\u2019t erase the need for a trade. The sooner Lakers executives realize that, the sooner they can find pieces that fit their puzzle.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pressure is still on for the Lakers to make another move. After a trade with Brooklyn to add wing depth, the team\u2019s weaknesses are still evident, and many point to the fact they\u2019re one or two pieces away from true title contention. Anthony Davis recently added more fuel to the fire with recent comments [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":119877,"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":[1608,26,62,4721],"tags":[240,167,38,4613,4513],"class_list":["post-119874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-anthony-davis","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-lebron-james","tag-robert-williams-iii","tag-walker-kessler"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119874","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\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119874"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119892,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119874\/revisions\/119892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}