Lakers Trade Rumors: LA Must Not Overreact to Losses, Make Drastic Moves

The Los Angeles Lakers won eight of their last 10 games before faltering down the stretch against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night. This does not mean the team needs a shakeup in any way, shape or form.

Something has to be said for the fact that this group was coming off a signature win against the Miami Heat on Sunday and proved it can beat the best in the NBA. Most teams would write this relatively meaningless loss off as a midseason failure to a lowly team. It would be acceptable as part of the hectic 66-game schedule and fatigue.

However, the Lakers brass may not see it that way and it has seemingly given some of their players anxiety, including Pau Gasol, who appears to be extremely concerned about the team’s schedule and the standings in the Western Conference.

Via ESPN, Gasol said:

"

I'm looking [at the Western Conference standings]. I think we all should be looking.

Today was a missed opportunity for us to continue to move in the right direction. I see a team that leads the conference and has a nice record in Oklahoma (City, at 30-8). I see San Antonio (25-12) three losses away from us and now the Clippers (22-14) are one ahead of us and now we're tied with Memphis (22-15), I think. We're 15 losses. We have Dallas (23-17) right behind. Denver (22-17) is right behind. Utah and Portland are very close. Houston (21-18) is also right there.

That's what I see.”

"

Gasol knows, perhaps more than any player in the league, that he could be gone at any moment up until the trading deadline.

The 31-year-old PF was moved at the deadline back in February of 2008 from the Memphis Grizzlies to the LA and helped lead the team to three straight NBA Finals appearances. Then he was nearly flipped this offseason as part of a rejected deal to bring Chris Paul to the Lakers.

Most recently, he’s been involved in multiple rumors for Dwight Howard and other players after the Lake Show stumbled through the first half of the season without Phil Jackson and a declining supporting cast.

It just doesn’t make sense for GM Mitch Kupchak to trade Gasol, Kobe Bryant or Andrew Bynum—his three best players.

The problems on the team are point guard and small forward play. They could have already addressed the latter by bringing in Michael Beasley, but Kupchak refused the Minnesota Timberwolves’ offer of a first-rounder for him for salary cap reasons.

LA could improve the point position by using some of its lesser assets to bring in a new face, such as Ramon Sessions or Kirk Hinrich, to inject life into the offense.

The Lakers are going to continue to be an inconsistent team that is capable of beating Miami one night and losing to the Pistons two days later until they shore up their two positions of weakness. They can do this without breaking up their “Big Three” and need to concentrate on getting it done before the deadline.