Lakers Urged to Blow It Up & Trade LeBron, AD

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LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers

Since winning the 2020 NBA championship, the Los Angeles Lakers have been a picture of inconsistency. LeBron James and Anthony Davis have struggled to lead a disjointed roster. Darvin Ham led them to the Western Conference Finals in 2023. However, they were swept by the Denver Nuggets.

Even with a new coaching staff led by JJ Redick, the Lakers have been unable to produce consistent performances. On some nights, they project to be a serious force in the West. On others, they look like a roster in dire need of change.

According to The Volume’s Jason Timpf, who was speaking on his ‘Hoops Tonight’ podcast, the Lakers might need to tear their roster down and begin a complete rebuild.

“I think they should trade LeBron and AD,” Timpf said. “Start the rebuild. Jeanie Buss needs to fire Rob Pelinka and hire someone who actually understands basketball…These guys can’t be f*****g bothered. They just can’t be bothered. They need to completely break this thing down. And, they need to completely need to reinvest in JJ Redick and a new front office and try to build a quality basketball culture from the ground up.”

The Lakers are 12-10 this season. However, their recent performances have undoubtedly left the fanbase concern that their current slide could turn into a season-defining run of bad play.

JJ Redick Wants Lakers Players to Take Ownership

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the Lakers suffered their second consecutive blowout loss. There was no energy on either side of the ball. On defense, the Lakers stood around and watched as the Miami Heat used the game for target practice, with a sea of Purple and Gold jerseys standing around blaming one another.

During his postgame news conference, Redick called on his team to take ownership of their performances.

“There has to be some ownership on the court and I’ll take all the ownership in the world,” Redick said. “This is my team and I lead it. I’m embarrassed. But I can’t physically get us organized…I’m not blaming players. I own this. But, gonna need some ownership on the court as well. There’s not a sense from me that we’re together right now.”

LeBron backed his head coach’s statement, admitting that the team’s current malaise is on the players and isn’t the product of bad coaching.

“Everything that he (Redick) said is correct,” James said. “…We’ve been preaching it since July. I wasn’t here since July, I was preaching some other stuff with Team USA, but it’s been preached since July, so there should be an understanding…It’s not on the coaches, it’s definitely on us, for sure.”

If the Lakers can’t figure things out on the court, entering a full-scale rebuild may be the best option available.

Redick Wants to Add Size to Lakers Roster

Since taking over as head coach, Redick has been vocal about the Lakers’ need for some additional size at center. During a July. 13 interview with Sirius XM NBA Radio’s Justin Termine, Redick admitted the Lakers lack a ‘big bruising center’ to battle some of the bigger teams in the West.

“You certainly have to look at what I think is actually a very good roster, a very balanced roster,” Redick said. “We’d love to, we tried, but we’d love to, at some point, get another five man, a big bruising five man…You look at the Western Conference right now, whether it’s Denver, Minnesota, OKC with what they added, certainly Memphis, they’re going to be back in the hunt, they added Zach Edey, certain matchups in the playoffs, you’re going to need a lot of size.”

If the Lakers follow Timpf’s plan of tearing down the current roster and rebuilding from scratch, Redick would be able to construct a team that fits his vision. Only then will we see what he’s capable of as a head coach.

Unfortunately, that means the Lakers would need to accept some tough years as they develop talent and reposition themselves for a sustained period of contention.