Dating back to last season’s trade deadline, the Lakers have actually been sending a pretty clear message, to those paying close enough attention: The days of LeBron James and Anthony Davis being the driving force of a championship roster are behind us. We may not have wanted to hear it and thus paid attention to the bright neon sign that read “WE SWEAR WE’RE TRYING TO COMPETE” because that was a nicer reality.
Thing is, we don’t choose reality. So even while leaks came from the organization about how they needed more data to see just what the team was capable of or how they were just waiting for the right deal to come along, the depressing, suffocating reality is they just don’t believe in this core any longer.