Lakers Aren’t Likely to Alter the Roster

Today is the trading deadline in the NBA. If you’re a Laker fan, you might not have even noticed.

Why would you?

No trade rumors are swirling around the team, no speculation about any player being on the bubble.

The Lakers have made it plain for some time now that, barring some ridiculous offer like Paul Pierce for Jelani McCoy or Allen Iverson for a draft choice, they will not be making a deal.

Part of the reason was thought to be the Lakers’ determination not to trigger the luxury tax by going over the salary limit. League sources now say that there may be no luxury tax this year because of increased league revenue streams.

But even if that’s true, the Lakers will not make a move because nothing out there excites them.

“We like our team,” Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “There is not an obvious player out there we can add considering we would have to subtract a player.

“I’ve had some calls from other teams, but that goes along with the territory this time of year.”

So the Lakers you see are the Lakers you will undoubtedly get for the rest of this season.

In the heady days of November and early December, it didn’t seem like it could get much better. Even though Derek Fisher and Mark Madsen began the season on the injured list, the team won 16 of its first 17 games, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant had joined a mutual admiration society, and the only question seemed to be whether the Lakers could break the Chicago Bulls’ record by winning 73 regular-season games.

How the mighty have tumbled.

Since that high point, the Lakers have looked very ordinary, going 19-15. Tuesday night’s loss to the Boston Celtics represented a low-water mark for Coach Phil Jackson, his first three-game losing streak in this, his third season in Los Angeles. O’Neal’s feud with Bryant may be over, but O’Neal’s problem with the big toe on his right foot makes for an uncertain future. He has already been forced to take two stints on the injured list because of the toe and may need yet another before the postseason begins.

In O’Neal’s absences, the Lakers have looked horrible at times at both ends of the court. They lost to the Bulls, the worst team in the league, fell 20 points behind the Washington Wizards before rallying to win, and left their offense in the locker room in the first half against the Atlanta Hawks, scoring only 35 points.

Wait till O’Neal gets back, the optimists said. He returned Tuesday night and the Lakers blew an 18-point, third-quarter lead against Boston.

“If the playoffs started now, we would be fine,” O’Neal said before Tuesday’s game.

That’s the theory. The Lakers figure they can turn it on when the postseason begins. That’s what they did last season.

After all, they’ve got O’Neal and Bryant, arguably the two best players in the league. So who needs to worry about a trading deadline?