Los Angeles Lakers blow another game late; calls for trade will grow louder

After blowing another game, the calls for the Los Angeles Lakers to make a trade will only grow louder in the coming weeks.

For the second time in a week, the Los Angeles Lakers blew a game late (at the free-throw line) and went on to eventually lose in overtime. The first was last Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers and the second was Tuesday night against the Boston Celtics.

Both were golden opportunities to officially declare the Lakers as back as a true competitor but after missing out on both those chances, the Lakers find themselves back against the wall. It’s still early in the season but you’d have to wonder what the next move is going to be for the struggling (and inconsistent) Lakers.

Where the Los Angeles Lakers stand in the West

After dropping four of their last five games (including the two blown late-game scenarios), the Lakers are stilling in 12th in the Western Conference standings with an 11-16 record. They are now 3.5 games back of the 8th seed and quickly falling behind in the playoff race.

If the Lakers want to keep pace with some of the other playoff hopefuls in the West, there’s an argument to be made that this is a team that needs to make a move to upgrade its roster.

The NBA Trade Deadline is still roughly two months away, but you can’t imagine that the Lakers are going to wait until February to make a move. It may be too late at that point for the Lakers and would make very little sense to give up any tangible assets.

Even though the Lakers have certainly played better as of late; Anthony Davis and LeBron James are at the forefront of their improved play. And you can’t discount the fact that Russell Westbrook has looked more and more comfortable in his role off the bench.

But there’s still something missing on this roster. An element that would allow this team to put some of these games away. Though, there’s no guarantee that the player that the Lakers may be looking for is on the trade block.

The Lakers blowing two of their last three in the final seconds of the game is certainly concerning, but it also suggests that this team may be close to finally breaking through and unearthing something positive.

I’m not sure if a trade solves that issue for the Lakers but at this point, it’s certainly worth a try.