Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles in Lose-Lose Situation with Pau Gasol

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in a lose-lose situation with Pau Gasol.

They trade him for a star point guard, and they lose their rebounding advantage.

They keep him, and they have to choose between Gilbert Arenas, Ramon Sessions and Jonny Flynn.

The Lakers pulled off a back-and-forth battle with the Boston Celtics on Friday, but they also shot under 40 percent while going 1-of-15 from downtown. To call them a title contender right now is to be a diehard Lakers fan who blindly looks for hope.

Right now, with the Lakers' defense and rebounding, they have a shot at the title, but they haven't been in sync offensively all season long, and Mike Brown continues to use Gasol as if he's Lamar Odom.

And honestly, they won't win the title when they have Derek Fisher and Steve Blake defending the top point guards in the league. In last season's playoffs, teams lit up the Lakers from the point guard position.

The Lakers are hanging around right now in large part because of the advantage they have in the interior, where Gasol and Andrew Bynum have helped the team post the second-best rebounding differential in the league and made it hard for opponents to score in the paint.

But hanging around isn't good enough, especially come playoff time.

If the Lakers trade Gasol for someone like rumored targets Rajon Rondo or Kyle Lowry, they clearly will have addressed the point guard position, but it leaves a gaping hole in the post. They'd have to get a rebounder and defender as part of a package deal for it to be a good move, and I don't see that happening.

It leaves the Lakers with an unnerving and helpless situation where it appears they can do nothing to boost their chances of winning the title this season.

My advice would be for them to keep Gasol and try to find a young, defensive-minded point guard who won't fall apart on the big stage. But even that seems like a tough chore.

Kobe Bryant told the media on Tuesday, via ESPN Los Angeles:

"

We have to play very solid, near-perfect basketball. We've done it in stretches, so we're capable of contending. But our margin for error is not as great as some of the other teams.

"

Playing near-perfect basketball is not an easy thing to do, but that's the only way I see the Lakers winning the championship this season.