Lakers Player Reveals When 'You Really Need to Start Looking Over Your Shoulder' with Trade Deadline

When the NBA trade deadline nears, silence can be the most foreboding sign in the view of one Los Angeles Lakers player.

"Just when it's quiet is when you really need to start looking over your shoulder," the unnamed player told The Athletic's Dan Woike.

For a lot of players, a steady swirl of rumors and speculation is a part of everyday life. That's especially true for those on one of the franchises that tends to drive a lot of the discourse, such as the Lakers.

Five years into his career, Austin Reaves has been dealt to just about every other team in the league in hypothetical trades.

However, last year was a prime example of how the absence of any noise offers little in the way of assurance or job security.

Nobody had a Luka Dončić/Anthony Davis swap on their radar prior to it happening.

Author Yaron Weitzman reported in his book, A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers, that Bronny James first broke the news in a group chat of Lakers players. Davis was incredulous and immediately left the group.

In a 2019 interview with Ian Begley for ESPN, then-Brooklyn Nets forward Jared Dudley echoed the anonymous Lakers player in saying it's often the trades you don't expect that actually come to fruition.

"I would say this: 90 percent of the rumors on social media don't happen," he said. "It's the ones that are super quiet, that's when your agent says, 'Here it is.'"

Teams have until 3 p.m. ET on Thursday to complete any trades. There will be plenty of players on edge before that time as they brace for a possible change of scenery on short notice.