Kobe Bryant Shouldn't Have Any Faith in the Los Angeles Lakers Front Office

The Los Angeles Lakers have missed out on both big-name players on the trading block this season.

First, a deal with the New Orleans Hornets for Chris Paul was mysteriously nixed by the NBA and the Dwight Howard trade talks never really got past the initial stages before Howard was pulled off the trade market by the Orlando Magic.

Somewhere down the road, Kobe Bryant is going to need some help. He can't carry this team to the playoffs by himself and Pau Gasol doesn't appear to be the sidekick he used to be.

Gasol appears to be just going through the motions so far this season. Perhaps his feelings were hurt by being involved in the Chris Paul trade that got vetoed.

That's what happened to Lamar Odom, after all, who was then traded to the Dallas Mavericks for basically nothing.

Trading Odom for nothing was a terrible move on the part of the Lakers' front office. Certainly they could have got something in return for a player of Odom's caliber. Instead, they gave him to the first suitor, which also happened to be a team the Lakers might be battling for a playoff spot in March and April.

According to this New York Post piece, Kobe Bryant was quoted as saying, "Hopefully, management knows what it’s doing and will provide us with our missing pieces."

If I was Kobe, I wouldn't be holding my breath. Mitch Kupchak and Lakers management have shown that, unless a team is willing to give them a star player in return for nothing (see: Pau Gasol, 2007), they are incapable of making a deal to benefit their team.

The truth is, he hasn't had to before. Since getting Gasol for pennies on the dollar, Kobe has been able to do enough to lead the team to a couple of championships.

However, the time of Kobe being able to be the only legitimate offensive threat on a championship-caliber team is coming to a close. If Gasol can't step up his game, the Lakers are going to slip into mediocrity.

If I was Kupchak, I'd do whatever it took to get Dwight Howard to Los Angeles for the long term. He'd take a lot of pressure off Kobe and would greatly improve the team's defense.

Having said that, Kobe shouldn't hold his breath waiting for that deal. The front office is probably going to once again stand pat at the deadline and rely on Bryant to do everything.