NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers Must End Pau Gasol Trade Speculation

The Los Angeles Lakers are 6-4 in the month of February and the current five-seed in the Western Conference. 

This type of play doesn't excite Kobe Bryant. In fact, it frustrates the hell out of him.

The all-world superstar has never been afraid to open his mouth and he did so again yesterday in defense of teammate Pau Gasol. The Spanish seven-footer has been at the forefront of trade rumors for some time and Kobe wants those rumors to end—one way or another (via ESPN):

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"It's just tough for a player to give his all when you don't know if you're going to be here tomorrow. I'd rather them not trade him at all. If they're going to do something, I wish they would just [expletive] do it. If they're not going to do it, come out and say you're not going to do it."

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Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak did address the growing controversy, but he put no end to the speculation:

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"As general manager of the Lakers, I have a responsibility to ownership, our fans and the players on this team to actively pursue opportunities to improve the team for this season and seasons to come," Kupchak said in the statement. "To say publicly that we would not do this would serve no purpose and put us at a competitive disadvantage. Taking such a course of action at this time would be a disservice to ownership, the team and our many fans."

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While he is correct in what he said, the Lakers are doing themselves no favors with this nonsense. Essentially, Kobe, other players and fans of the Lakers all have a built-in excuse should the team lose games. They're making excuses already and that never ends well.

We have approximately three weeks until the trade deadline and the Lakers clearly have some holes to fill. While Andrew Bynum is arguably their biggest trade chip, Gasol runs a damn close second.

With Kobe, this team is always going to be considered for a spot at the top of the West, but this series of media jabs doesn't do anyone any good.

No team, not even the legendary Lakers, is immune to distractions.

As the Lakers continue their quest to get better this season, Pau Gasol is going to be on the trade block.

The Lakers already made one dumb trade this season so expecting them to offload Gasol for anything less than exactly what they want and need is foolish.

But something has to be done because the longer this hangs over their heads, the longer this team and fanbase has someone and something to blame.