Lakers ‘stuck’ waiting on Jared Vanderbilt before continuing trade pursuit

Cough if you’ve heard this before, but Los Angeles Lakers they are waiting for the player to return from injury to evaluate his team. This time it is Jarred Vanderbiltand according to league sources, that has stalled their efforts to improve the roster.

Vanderbilt joins a long line of Lakers whose return from injury should have turned the season around. Trevor Ariza, Kendrick Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker, Gabe Vincent, Christian Wood, and possibly more make up this infamous list of players whose health the season clearly depended on.

After the trade for Dorian Finney-Smith, there was initial optimism that Vanderbilt would bounce back relatively quickly. He made a few trips to the South Bay Lakers for extra practice time, but continued ambiguity on that front has left the front office in a neutral position since the Finney-Smith trade.

In their talks with the Lakers, executives around the league encountered mostly front offices staring at a fork in the road. He has felt that way for years.

With some familiar tones coming from the front office, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are ‘concerned’ according to ESPN. James also began his seemingly annual tradition of public comments by questioning the makeup of the roster.

First, when asked if there was a way to increase the margin for error internally (without a personnel move), James was forthcoming.

“No… that’s how our team is constructed. We don’t have much room for error.” James told reporters after the last shot by the Los Angeles Clippers.

“We have no choice, that’s how our team is constructed.” We have to. We have to play close to perfect basketball,” he reiterated, when asked about how much playing in that situation takes mentally.

Fortunately for James, Davis, and the countless Lakers fans who have gone crazy this cycle, Vanderbilt was allowed to return on the court Saturday against the Golden State Warriors.

How will the Lakers move forward with the deadline approaching?

Here’s the thing: You shouldn’t actually see Vanderbilt on the field to make roster decisions. Yes, having a decent sample of data is ideal, but it doesn’t always work that way. If anything, the larger sample size at Vanderbilt seems like you can’t count on him staying healthy long enough to factor into personnel decisions.

Functioning as a lead decision maker for any entity requires a level of forward thinking and creativity using the information they have rather than the data they want to use. On that note, according to several conversations with people around the league, the Lakers are seriously lacking.

Among the frustrations highlighted by those hoping to work with the Lakers in trades, Los Angeles’ inability to think outside the box is near the top.

“We’d all like to have all our guys all the time and be able to make decisions based on that,” the Western Conference executive told ClutchPoints. “At some point, you’re going to have to make a tough call without as much information as you want.” Until they’re willing to do that, they’re stuck.”

With Vanderbilt returning Saturday, the Lakers will have just under two weeks to build a large enough sample of data to make a decision. It will still take more time for Vanderbilt to start looking like itself. Optimistically, that might leave a few games or so with which to make any kind of decision at the deadline.

So, by waiting for Vanderbilt to return to fully evaluate the roster, the Lakers have lost more than half of the season. This is exactly how Los Angeles remains as mediocre as it has been since winning the championship in 2019-20, even with James extending his prime in ways we’ve never seen from a player his age.

At the very least, with Vanderbilt back, one of the key excuses for holding has been removed from the list of options for a Lakers front office under fire for its rudderless approach the last few seasons. With James and Davis now also restless, the next few weeks will be another fascinating watch.