Lakers Rumors: Lakers Must Sacrifice Core to Make Blockbuster Deals
Fate has not been kind to the Los Angeles Lakers since the lifting of the lockout.
Well, fate and the powers that be in the NBA. Last Thursday, the Lakers were poised to make a blockbuster deal for New Orleans Hornets superstar Chris Paul, but NBA commissioner David Stern swooped in and killed the deal.
The failed deal ultimately led the Lakers to trade Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks for pretty much nothing. Odom was annoyed that his name was involved in the Paul deal, and ESPNLosAngeles.com reported that he actually requested a trade.
In other words, so far, so not good for the Lakers.
But things could get better. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak spoke to the media on Monday, and he hinted that the Lakers are not done yet.
"We are pursuing big deals right now," said Kupchak, according to an ESPNLosAngeles.com report. "More than one big deal."
Lakers fans will be glad to hear that, as the team Kupchak is currently working with does not appear to be a championship-caliber squad. It wasn't in 2010-2011, of course, and losing Odom was a major blow.
But lest Lakers fans get too excited, Kupchak said that he "expects" that the Lakers' core of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum will remain intact all season.
That Kupchak believes Kobe will stick around is not news, but he's going to be hard-pressed to make "big" deals if he is intent on holding on to Gasol and Bynum. Nobody's going to want to give up a superstar for Derek Fisher and/or Metta World Peace.
Yup, World Peace isn't worth much in the trade market. Tough world we live in.
While there are undoubtedly plenty of trades Kupchak can make that will improve the Lakers without having to rid the team of Gasol or Bynum, it's simply hard to see how he's going to convince a team to give up a star player. There are certainly ways Kupchak can get creative, but I have a hard time seeing him get away with it seeing as how teams around the league are acutely aware that Gasol and Bynum are there to be had.
To give you an idea, the Lakers aren't getting the Orlando Magic to give Dwight Howard up without sacrificing Gasol or Bynum. In fact, ESPN's Chris Broussard reported the other day that the Magic were going to want both Gasol and Bynum for Howard.
Per Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register, Kupchak is not about to make that deal.
From the sound of things, it sounds like Kupchak may not make any deals. If he aims to keep his core together, he certainly won't make any deals as big as the ones that have been teased over the last year or so.
If so, Kupchak clearly defines "big" differently than you and I.
Between you and me, I think our definition of "big" is one that Kupchak should want to adopt.
