Reports: LA Lakers looking to play .500 basketball until they trade for a player

The LA Lakers have looked like a disappointing team to start the season with. However, ESPN's Dave McMenamin reports that the Lakers will hope to become a .500 team once the trade window opens in December.

As mentioned earlier, the Purple and Gold haven't had the best start to their 2022-23 campaign. After suffering five losses in a row, the Lakers barely managed to get going with a win.

With sporadic win-streaks building, the Lakers haven't really had the chance to break out and hit their stride. However, the recent set of games has shown some amount of promise for the future.

Playing without their superstar LeBron James, the LA Lakers have managed to rack up a fairly impressive record. LeBron's absence has seen the subsequent rise of Anthony Davis as the Lakers' leader and star.

Read: Adrian Wojnarowski praises Anthony Davis’ effort for his unprecedented stats for Lakers: "This is the all-world player that the Lakers traded for”

With Davis firing on all cylinders and Russell Westbrook leading the bench rotation, the Purple and Gold have looked competitive. In this regard, there is some hope that the team could be a .500 team by December.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported this during his recent appearance on an episode of "The Hoop Collective" podcast. When discussing the hopes within the Lakers' organization, he said:

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"What they feel is realistic is playing .500 ball until December 15 when deals start to potentially open around the league because that’s when contracts that were signed this past summer can be traded.

"And then maybe you can finally make this mythical draft-pick trade that’s been talked about for months and months and months sometime in late December to mid-January and have that be an additional thrust to the type of basketball you’ve already been doing, you’ve already established."

McMenamin made reference to the form Anthony Davis has been in during his segment on the podcast. While maintaining that Davis simply cannot sustain his current form for the rest of the season, McMenamin suggested that the team could still benefit from running the offense through him.

An important point to note in the report are the Lakers' plans to make a trade during the trade window in late December.

Considering that they have been involved in several trade rumors this season, the Purple and Gold may finally entertain the idea of parting ways with their two draft picks.

However, this could simply be speculation depending upon the form the team is in by the time LeBron returns to action.

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The LA Lakers have several trade options

To say that the LA Lakers have engaged in a few trade talks is an understatement. The Purple and Gold have been involved in almost every other trade rumor this season.

Building on offseason trade talks involving Russell Westbrook, the Lakers have continued their pursuit of finding a potential trade to improve their roster.

In the current scenario, the Purple and Gold have been linked with teams like the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs. While some rumors have also suggested that the Lakers may have some interest in acquiring Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets, there has been limited development on the matter.

The LA Lakers have fetched a lot of interesting options with regard to trading. However, they have been prudent in making any decisions due to their severely limited draft capital.