Lakers News: Latest on Trade Outlook and Jamal Murray Taunting Lonzo Ball
The Los Angeles Lakers are still in rebuilding mode, so it comes as no surprise that they are open to making moves once the NBA trade season begins on December 15.
In an interview with the Mason and Ireland Show on ESPN LA Radio, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka spoke about teams being more aggressive on the trade market this year.
"December 15, I think you're going to see the trade market open up," Pelinka said. "I think teams are going to be aggressive. I always say when there's limited cap room, there's more trades. When there's tons of cap room, teams tend to be more free-agent focused. Since there's limited cap room around the league, I think teams are going to be aggressive with trying to reshuffle."
December 15 is significant because trades become viable with the expiration of a restriction, meaning that players who signed as free agents are now eligible to be traded. While Pelinka offered that there will be a lot of activity from teams around the league, he also said that he and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson are always looking to improve the team.
"When there's needs on a team, I think you always have to try and address those," Pelinka said. "You can do it in the draft or free agency or trades. Magic and I are constantly looking at all three of those areas to try and make this team better."
While it's apparent that the Lakers, who are on a five-game losing streak, have needs, it's not as easy to pinpoint what moves they need to make.
Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle are names that keep popping up in the rumor mill to clear cap space for max contracts this summer, but the biggest flaw the team needs to address is its woeful three-point shooting percentage. They are dead last in the league at 31.5 percent.
Denver point guard Jamal Murray wasn't satisfied with just beating the Lakers 115-100 after a fourth-quarter collapse Saturday night.
He wanted to embarrass his opponent.
So as the clock wound down, Murray taunted Lonzo Ball, by dribbling the ball around him as he walked towards the bench.
Randle and Brandon Ingram quickly fouled Murray in retaliation for the move that head coach Luke Walton called "immature."
"I wasn't a fan of it," Larry Nance Jr. told Bill Oram of the OC Register. "You already won, no need to showboat. That's kind of an unwritten rule of [even] high school basketball. That's Day 1. You don't show anybody up. That's an obvious sign of disrespect so we took it as such."
Although Murray offered an apology, saying that it was "a bad play" and he "may have taken it too far," per Oram, his tweet Saturday night seemed to imply that his mea culpa wasn't as sincere as it sounded:
Sincere or not, Walton will show video of the play prior to the Lakers rematch against Denver on March 9 to "motivate and [tick] our guys off a little bit," per Oram.
Ball, who looked as if he was unaware of the play that has now gone viral, was not ticked off and didn't feel the need to add fuel to the fire.
"I don't care," Ball said.
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