Lakers Shouldn't Rush Trade Despite LeBron James' Need for More Help amid NBA Rumors

A quiet NBA offseason can make any fanbase feel a little antsy.

The Los Angeles Lakers spawn a more extreme type of urgency among the faithful.

That's partly due to the franchise's storied history and the sky-high expectations those past triumphs create. It's also a simple reflection of the fact this club is currently following the lead of a 39-year-old LeBron James and 31-with-an-injury-history Anthony Davis.

The Lakers have, at most, a couple more cracks at it with this core. So, the lack of external adjustments to a club coming off a 47-win campaign and first-round exit could be frustrating for many to see.

That doesn't mean L.A. has to do something dramatic. Not until the right player pops up on the market, at least.

While the front office might share the fans' urgency to act, they have to be smart about this. And, fortunately, they are being smart about it. With their top free-agency targets having signed elsewhere and no discernible action on the trade market, the Lakers "are expected to remain patient in their quest to improve their roster," per The Athletic's Jovan Buha.

There is, of course, risk in waiting.

The risk of being left behind by a perpetually loaded (and somehow still improving) Western Conference, for instance. Or the risk that James and Davis don't hold up the way they did this past season, when they made a combined 147 regular-season appearances. Or that the few potential difference-makers on the market get snatched up by someone else.

Those risks are real. They also aren't reason to abandon the slow-and-steady strategy.

The Lakers can't force teams to trade with them. They can't make the Utah Jazz decide they actually do have the best offer on the table for Lauri Markkanen. They can't force the Atlanta Hawks to accept whatever they think is a reasonable offer for Trae Young.

They also can't just summon the availability of a different star. They might have targets in mind who haven't wiggled free just yet. Maybe those players are better fits than the names being bandied about it. Maybe their situations will change between now and the 2024-25 season's trade deadline.

A lack of activity doesn't indicate the lack of direction. The market forces might simply not be in L.A.'s favor at the moment.

And even that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Yes, the Lakers are basically running back this past season's roster, but that also means they're returning their most prominent players from their push to the 2023 Western Conference finals. Maybe this club is closer to high-level competition than it appears.

Maybe new coach JJ Redick can make the kind of smart, subtle changes that can help the Lakers close some of this gap. Maybe this offense breathes a little easier with a sharpshooter like first-round rookie Dalton Knecht.

Granted, that's a lot of maybes for a team with such a narrow window to strike, but there are legitimate avenues to improvement.

The Lakers will need a pick-me-up at some point. It's fine for now to wait for opportunity's knock, though, so long as they're ready to answer when it does.