Lakers Trade Rumors: Shocking Play by Metta World Peace Will Help End Trade Talk

All season it's been very apparent what the Los Angeles Lakers need to do by the time Thursday's trade deadline arrives.

There's the need for an upgrade at point guard, some production off the bench and just as important an upgrade at the small forward position, where the Lakers get next to nothing in terms of production.

Looking at the Devin Ebanks, Matt Barnes and Metta World Peace combination, they combined to average only 15.1 PPG, 9.5 RPG and 3.9 APG.

That's simply not going to get it done.

But there could be a silver lining, though, in Metta World Peace, as his play as of late could just help put an end to possible trade talks for the Lakers. While Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak still needs to address the point guard position and the bench, and is currently in talks with Portland about Raymond Felton and Cleveland about Ramon Sessions, maybe he can rest on what he has at the small forward spot.

It's very easy to think the Lakers could trade MWP and improve in the process, but realistically, there's not a team in the NBA that would have interest in a 32-year old making close to $7 million this season and is averaging a mere 5.8 PPG.

Plus there's the whole being a problem and a head-case issue that has plagued MWP throughout his career. Make no mistake about it, he has absolutely no trade value.

However, a recent spark from MWP during the last six Lakers games could giver Lakers fans hope that he's set to produce down the stretch.

He's scored in double figures in three of the Lakers past six games, including a 14 point effort in a win against the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

Before this recent stretch from MWP in which he's averaged 10.3 PPG in the month of March, he scored in double figures only once in 13 February games and only twice in 17 January games.

His point per game averages during those months were 3.6 in January and 5.0 during February.

The 10.6 PPG he's averaged so far in March looks like a good sign. The worse case scenario is that it's more production then Mike Brown was getting from the position in the past.

So if the Lakers are unable to pull off a big deal, and the odds are that they won't be able to. They can hopefully turn back to an old veteran that's got the job done in the past.