Lakers Trade Rumors: Kyle Lowry's Health Issues Bad News for PG-Needy Lakers

At no point since the start of the season has Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak gone to the top of the Staples Center and begged the heavens to deliver Kyle Lowry unto his team.

But he may as well have. The Houston Rockets' young point guard has been popping up in reports linking him to the Lakers for months. Where there's that much smoke, there's typically fire. The general agreement among fans and the media alike is that Lowry would be a fine solution to the Lakers' point guard problem.

The typical swap in the Lowry-to-the-Lakers rumors has Pau Gasol going to the other way to Houston (ESPN's Chris Broussard reported in February that Luis Scola could also be involved). The one thing virtually every rumor had in common was that they all reported in some way or another that the Rockets didn't like Gasol enough to include Lowry in a trade.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated provided the most recent one:

"

Kyle Lowry still not in the mix for any deal involving Pau Gasol, sources say.

— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) March 9, 2012"

That report came on Friday afternoon. At that point, the Lakers still had about a week to convince the Rockets to part with Lowry before the March 15 trade deadline.

On Sunday, an unexpected wrench got thrown into the Lakers' plans to acquire Lowry. Jason Friedman of Rockets.com was the first to report the bad news:

"

Kyle Lowry diagnosed with bacterial infection. Will stay in NYC hospital til Tuesday then to Houston to continue treatment. Out 2-4 weeks.

— Jason Friedman (@RocketsJCF) March 12, 2012"

Unless Kupchak wants to trade Gasol and other assets for a point guard who's not going to be able to play until the regular season is just about over, there goes that plan.

Lowry's sudden and troubling health woes should be the end of the Lowry-to-the-Lakers rumors. His health woes will not, however, put an end to the Lakers' quest to acquire a point guard at the deadline.

Not in all likelihood, anyway. The Lakers have been linked to numerous point guards since the start of the season, and Kupchak himself admitted in early February that he would love nothing more than to acquire a young point guard, preferably a ballhandler and an All-Star.

It still feels like acquiring Lowry never was realistic. But as far as the best-case scenarios for the Lakers are and were concerned, acquiring Lowry was more realistic than acquiring, say, Deron Williams. 

Now that Lowry is (presumably) out of the picture, all bets are off concerning the Lakers' search for a point guard. The are only two things that are certain: the Lakers are running out of time, and there's a sorry shortage of suitable options out there.

The overwhelming consensus is that the Lakers are doomed to be an also-ran if they have the same team after the deadline as the one they currently have now before the deadline, and that's a consensus that yours truly agrees with.

If the Lakers are going to try to make it to the NBA Finals this season, they're going to need a shot in the arm. The best way they're going to get one is by trading for a much-needed point guard.

The Lakers still have options. But if you take Lowry and the league's various superstar point guards out of the picture, it becomes apparent they don't have any really good ones.