The Los Angeles Lakers have some internal decisions to make over the next few weeks. With the trade deadline coming up on Feb. 8, head coach Darvin Ham and L.A. have to decide if the problems that have plagued the first half of the 2023-24 season are fixable with what the team already has in the building, mainly figuring out if frequent injuries to role players like Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent are the difference between a middling team and a contender.
The Lakers are 20-21 through 41 games, exactly halfway through the season. Vanderbilt has played in 20 of those games, Vincent in five and Rui Hachimura in 27. Surprisingly, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been among the healthiest Lakers this season, as Davis has played in 39 games and James has played in 37.
It’s because of this that Vanderbilt believes the Lakers don’t need any trades to turn things around this season, simply needing to get healthy and consistent with their rotations.
“For sure. With us, it’s just difficult because people are in and out of the lineup due to injury or whatever, so it’s tough,” Vanderbilt said. “We’re still trying to build that camaraderie within ourselves. But, that’s part of the season. It’s tough. Like I said, we changed lineups so much, it’s tough to try to get that consistent continuity. But, I do believe it is capable – we are capable – of doing it internally.”
Ham, who has remained optimistic in his belief that the Lakers have what they need internally, was quick to agree with Vanderbilt while also praising the forward and the entire Lakers team for their recent resilience.
“Totally. I just told them after the game, I was extremely proud of the way we just moved on to the next play,” Ham said. “Good, bad, indifferent. We couldn’t come up with some defensive rebounds there for a while, we made some unfortunate turnovers. But you know, regardless of any of that, we kept moving on to the next play. And I thought we got stronger as the game got longer and we threw some different coverages at them.
“And just Vando was at the forefront of that. Him playing in the passing lanes, he finished with three steals or something like that. Just his activity on the ball, off the ball. Huge breakout baskets. Just a total team effort.
“And I agree with him wholeheartedly. People talking about trades and this and that. And you know, no one’s sugarcoating anything. You have opportunity, an opportunity to get better, you’re going to take advantage of it. But that said, what we have in a locker room, we just need to buckle down and focus and take care of the details. We have more than enough in that locker room to make some things happen. And so I totally agree with Vando.”
The Lakers are in a position to make a splashy trade if they so choose. They likely don’t have the means to land a player like Pascal Siakam, but guys like Dejounte Murray and Zach Lavine are within reach if they so choose. But they could also focus on the margins and internal improvement, an option that becomes more likely each passing day.
Darvin Ham explains return to original Lakers starting lineup
Ham recently decided to return to the starting lineup that began the 2023-24 season with James, Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince. He abandoned that lineup early into the season but found his way back to it as a way of bringing energy to the first quarter.
His main reason for the change was to increase the skill level around James and Davis to begin games.
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