As LeBron James and Anthony Davis Struggle, Does a Trade Still Make Sense for Lakers?

Let's start with the good news: Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham has solved last season's most significant on-court issue. He has unlocked Russell Westbrook.

But here's the bad news: They are now 2-7 after a 114-100 loss at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday afternoon, and 37-year-old LeBron James is playing some of the worst basketball of his career.

"LeBron doesn't even look like a main option right now," one executive said of the Lakers. "Neither does [Anthony Davis]."

The Lakers may be just as bad as last year's 33-win squad, quite possibly worse. While calls for a season-saving trade come from virtually all over, new questions are beginning to bubble up: What if Laker superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis are finally declining in a meaningful way?

And if that's the case, should the franchise really sacrifice its future by soliciting trades to fix what may be irreparably broken?

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A Matt Ryan Prayer Away from 1-8

The Lakers have yet to establish an identity this season. If the first several games suggested they'd be a hard-fighting defensive squad that couldn't shoot, the last two saw porous defense with either strong or marginal shooting. Against the Cavs, L.A. lost by 14 despite hitting as many threes and more field goals than Cleveland.

James is averaging just 24.3 points a game on 44.7 shooting from the field. Both marks are the lowest since his rookie season, and it's not as if this is a slow and steady decline after last year's 30.3 points a night at 52.4 percent.

He's also shooting a career-worst 21 percent from three-point range and doesn't seem eager to attack the basket or fight consistently on defense.

Some or all that may have to do with a non-Covid illness or the sore left foot he's been playing through over the past week. It might be the team makeup or the new system under a new coach. It could be none or all of the above, but if this continues, the Lakers are dead in the water.

Meanwhile, Davis is playing through back issues. His offensive numbers are on par with his last two seasons, and his rebounding is up to 11.1 per game. But his 22.5 points a night is well below his 26.1 during the team's championship run in 2019-20. Davis' most significant dip since the title has been from three-point range, where he's currently at 23.1 percent.

"The Lakers have a ton of holes. They lack playmaking, shooting and perimeter defense," the executive said. "Once stars get old, you need young, athletic shooters who defend and bring a jolt of energy."

To an extent, the Lakers have improved over last year's roster with a younger, more athletic group of players. New starters Lonny Walker IV and Troy Brown Jr. have played well, but neither is a playmaker, and the shooting is problematic (29.8 and 32.1 percent from three, respectively). Patrick Beverley (22.7 percent) and Kendrick Nunn (23.1 percent) aren't exactly solving the shooting woes either.

Is it a chicken/egg situation? Are the Lakers struggling because James is slowing down, leading to fewer open looks for teammates? Or is the lack of shooting around James giving him no space to operate in the half-court?

Teams are willing to give the Lakers open looks, so it still feels like a personnel problem. But if James is finally starting to show his age, that's a much deeper issue.

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Russ Isn't the Problem

Credit to Ham for getting buy-in from Westbrook on the benching. That's a hard sell for any coach to make to any starter, let alone someone with Westbrook's resumé. But Westbrook has bought in, averaging 18.8 points with 7.2 assists off the bench. He's shooting 50 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from three.

If the Lakers can finish with a respectable record, Westbrook could realistically be a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. Who doesn't love a good redemption story?

But the Lakers still aren't winning games. That points to the fundamental problem in the roster. Westbrook is earning 27.7 percent of the team's total team salary, but he just doesn't fit well on the court with James.

And splitting up James and Westbrook's minutes hasn't solved the core issues. The Lakers are abysmal in the first and third quarters, partly because of the lack of shooting in the starting lineup.

If the team could turn Westbrook's salary around for two or three role players who better fit the team—like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso, to pick three names from thin air at random—the Lakers would theoretically be better suited to support James.

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West Wide Open

If there's a saving grace for the Lakers, the Western Conference hasn't gone as many predicted. The Golden State Warriors are 3-7, while the Utah Jazz (a team many around the league believed was a "lock to tank") were 7-3 entering play on Sunday.

The Lakers are just 2.5 games out of the last play-in slot and 3.5 games behind the sixth-place Dallas Mavericks for a guaranteed playoff berth.

Whether it's Westbrook going out in a trade to rebalance the team or a minor deal to add shooting, playmaking and perimeter defense, L.A. would need to give to get. The price could hurt the team's long-term prospects in a post-LeBron purgatory as he ages out (or potentially leaves as a free agent in 2024 or 2025).

The franchise should have a read on James' and Davis' actual status. Both have missed significant games over recent seasons, and cold stints happen to everyone. If the slow start is a temporary bug and not a feature, then a trade could still be the answer.

The other equally plausible scenario: The Lakers have no real chance of competing with their current superstar duo and could easily panic into a deal attempting to address the unaddressable.

Giving up two future first-round draft picks only makes sense if the Lakers have a path to success. That might lead to the long-rumored Westbrook and two firsts to the Indiana Pacers for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.

L.A. could also decide Westbrook's contribution off the bench is valuable enough to try and make a smaller deal, like sending Beverley and Nunn with second-round compensation. The Lakers can bring back up to $22.9 million in salary for the pair and even more with additional players.

That might be enough to chase players like Phoenix's Jae Crowder or Hield, but the trade market doesn't usually ramp up until December 15, when most free agents signed this summer are eligible to be dealt. The trade deadline is February 10, but the Lakers can barely wait until mid-December, let alone February, at the rate the team is losing.

If Los Angeles can level out instead of losing at a 77.8 percent rate, patience can be a friend. The NBA has been especially volatile the last few weeks.

L.A. may want to see how the Brooklyn Nets get through the recent drama surrounding Kyrie Irving and his recent suspension for refusing to "unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs." The optics wouldn't be pretty, but is everyone 100 percent sure Kevin Durant will finish the season in Brooklyn?

The West may be open at the top, but the Lakers must overtake at least four teams for a shot at the play-in.

Is there a realistic trade that can make that happen and catapult the franchise into true contention?

Not if James is finally losing the battle to Father Time.

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Email Eric Pincus at [e-mail] and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.