The LA Lakers have long been considered a team that will be active at the trading deadline and while many don't think they will be acquiring players, they could be sellers and names like Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Chris Kaman, Jordan Hill, Kendall Marshall and Wesley Johnson all could be on the move and teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors all could be interested in making deals.
The Lakers were hanging around in the west for a bit earlier in the season, but losing Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Kobe Bryant for significant time with injuries has railroaded nearly any chance at making a playoff run and it might be best for Kobe to just sit out this season anyway. Bryant signed an extension for a couple more seasons and the team is hoping to snag Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony in the future and Kobe sitting out a season while the team is terrible may not be the worst decision in the world.
The Lakers have already set themselves up money wise for the next couple summers and making some of these trades could open up even more over the next two years. General manager Mitch Kupchak has been good about making moves in the past and while the team has yet to trade Pau Gasol despite persistent rumors, they can hang onto him and still benefit since he has an aspiring contract coming up. Lakers fans don't have the words rebuilding or fire sale in their vocabulary, but that could be a good way to go about things and trading players like Nash or Marshall could net some draft picks or other relief and that would be solid for a team that hasn't selected in the first round for a while.
Nash is pretty banged up so it remains to be seen whether the team could even trade him and since he has a pretty decent contract he will be hard to move, but the Lakers would be wise to see what they could get for him. Marshall has been very solid coming in for Nash and he could end up getting traded as well, while Wes Johnson has been solid enough as well and he could move too, but it is a question about what the Lakers could get in return.
Kaman is interesting since he is barely playing and he has made public his discontent with being in LA and after previously playing for the Clippers, that could be a move and there are a number of teams that could love to get their hands on a player like him, including the Wolves and Miami, who need some more depth up front. Jordan Farmar and Blake have been banged up and that could keep them from being dealt and the biggest trade chip for the team is Gasol since he has an expiring contract, but after he did not get traded for Andrew Bynum to the Cavaliers, the Lakers said they are pulling him off the market. The Lakers have decisions to make and it could mean some new faces in new places.
