Lakers

It was another case of coming up just short for the Lakers (27-34) following their 109-104 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night.

Including LeBron, four of the five Lakers starters finished with double-digit points. It was another case of coming up just short for the Lakers (27-34) following their 109-104 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night. LeBron James led all scorers with 26 points (his 27th-straight game of 20-plus points) and added 12 rebounds, five assists, and a steal, good for his 17th double-double of the season.

With each mounting loss in Los Angeles, the noise around the Lakers' future only grows louder, despite.

League observers have pointed to this offseason as a greater opportunity for the Lakers to shed Westbrook's contract, when they will be eligible to move their 2029 first-round pick. James does, for now, appear destined to remain in Los Angeles for the coming years. If the Lakers fail to advance beyond the play-in tournament, changes within the franchise are surely on the horizon. Any suggestion for Westbrook to come off the Lakers' bench would never have been entertained by the guard, sources said, and Vogel's staff never seriously broached the subject with him. The Lakers have already shown a willingness to stretch Luol Deng's contract, which finally slips off Los Angeles' books this year, although that came under Mitch Kupchak's stewardship. While Pelinka's acquisition of Anthony Davis certainly helped power the Lakers to the 2020 NBA championship, his tenure leading Los Angeles has been checkered with costly decision-making. There has been growing speculation about one name to replace Pelinka as Lakers general manager: Omar Wilkes, the current head of basketball operations for Paul's agency, Klutch Sports. Wilkes has been described as somewhat of a compromise between that ironclad Lakers family and Klutch's operation. To be clear, the Lakers have not contacted him for any position. Whoever's to blame, there's clearly a personality disconnect between Westbrook and the coaching staff. You can't do that to people, and then expect them to work with you when you join their side." The same doubt extends to the futures of embattled head coach Frank Vogel and Russell Westbrook. However, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation strongly denied Wilkes' candidacy to replace Pelinka, citing his hands-on role within Klutch's collegiate recruiting efforts.