Analysis: LeBron James wants to spend the twilight of his Hall of Fame career contending for championships again, not going through the motions on a losing team.
, James noted that “to be completely honest, we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting,” and the roster’s many flaws have only been magnified in Davis’s absence. Even so, the Lakers have yet to make any trades this season to acquire the necessary athleticism, size and wing depth to keep up with the league’s best.
As the Feb. 9 trade deadline approaches, all eyes will be on the Lakers, who have a pair of future first-round picks they could use to address their short-term concerns by improving James’s supporting cast. With Davis sidelined indefinitely, though, there’s a strong argument to hold tight until the summer, when Russell Westbrook’s $47 million salary comes off the books, thereby giving the Lakers greater flexibility to pursue higher-level trade targets and free agents.
James’s Lakers are on pace to go 33-49 this season, which would be the worst team he has played on during his 20-year career. By comparison, the Washington Wizards won 37 games each in 2001-2002 and 2002-03 during Michael Jordan’s oft-overlooked final chapter. “I’m a winner and I want to win,” James said. “I want to win and give myself a chance to win and still compete for championships. That’s always been my passion since I entered the league as an 18-year-old kid out of Akron, Ohio. I know it takes steps to get there. But once you get there and you know how to get there, playing basketball at this level just to be playing basketball is not in my DNA. It’s not in my DNA anymore.
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