The trade deadline is not all that far off, and at the least, Trade Chatter Season is well underway. Which is why it's so strange that a few recent reports about the current state of the market didn't just say the Lakers were, for the time being, quiet. They just kind of skipped the Lakers altogether. That's an unusual spot for LA to be, because the Lakers, if nothing else, are usually the team that sources around the league throw into conversations just to get the juices flowing. They're the leverage team, because it's always at least kinda plausible the Lakers would be interested in whatever player is being discussed.

But for now? Crickets.

That doesn't meant the Lakers aren't trying, but at least as things stand in mid-January, it's fair to say that the hopes and dreams for the team on how the market would play out as the season went along (the kind of hopes that prompted them to pass on potential deals this summer/during training camp) haven't panned out. It's actually been a nightmare in that regard.

Indiana? Doing pretty well! Thinking of extending Myles Turner, reportedly! The Jazz? Hanging in! Detroit? Asking a king's ransom for Bojan Bogdanovic. Nobody seems to be a seller, driving up the price for anything.

There's a universe somewhere in which teams that were supposed to suck, sucked and stars have become disgruntled and opportunities for teams like the Lakers abound. But this ain't that world. So the Lakers have to look inward, towards the LeBron James and Anthony Davis core. Davis is obviously central to any hopes the Lakers have, and all of their plans this year and beyond. As he showed earlier this year, Davis can cover a multitude of sins when he's at his best. We've also seen, again, he can't actually be relied on to stay on the floor.

So the Lakers can't plan around him, but they also will struggle mightily to replace him. Quite a pickle, really (and one the Lakers have done a horrible job mitigating based on roster construction and personnel moves).

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The trade market has not developed in the way Rob Pelinka hoped it would.

SEGMENT 2: Anthony Davis is both the problem and the solution to all of LA's problems.

SEGMENT 3: More on AD, plus some love for a surging Wenyen Gabriel!

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