Where LeBron James and the Lakers go from here

The NBA Trade Deadline was a bust for the Lakers. But don’t count out LeBron yet.

The Los Angeles Lakers did not have a successful NBA trade deadline.

LeBron James and the Lakers front office were involved on some level in Anthony Davis’ pre-deadline declaration that he would not re-sign with the Pelicans and would like to be traded, preferably to Los Angeles. LeBron’s friend Rich Paul is Davis’ agent, and LeBron has been vocal in the recent past about his desire to play with Davis, and the Lakers have been smacked with tampering charges and threats of sanctions multiple times. To what level were LeBron and the Lakers front office involved in Davis’ decision to go public when he did? No one but the people involved know. But the perception is that LeBron and the Lakers are responsible for the whole incident even if it was Davis and his agent who actually did it all.

That whole incident backfired: New Orleans is holding Davis until at least the summer, and it appears that the non-LeBron Lakers feel alienated at being dangled en masse as Pelican bait. Much has been made of this, that NBA players are humans and being treated like poker chips by decision-makers — including, in this case, a teammate and the Lakers’ on-court leader — is grating and de-motivating. But we don’t truly know how sore the Lakers’ young players feel about this, or whether it could possibly impact their play. (In a practical sense, the biggest impact felt so far is that LaVar Ball is back.)

The Lakers did make some other trades at the deadline, all relatively minor. They should be players in the buy-out market, if LeBron doesn’t press the issue on Carmelo Anthony. But nothing moved or will move the needle as much as LeBron and the starry-eyed Lakers front office wanted. The deadline was a bust.

All hope is not yet lost, though.

The Clippers, as we’ve noted, opted out of the playoff chase. Now the Clippers could absolutely still make the playoffs — Lou Williams, Danilo Gallinari, and Montrezl Harrell are good, and Doc Rivers coaches that team quite well — but L.A. has no incentive to chase the No. 8 spot and just traded its best player for picks. The other team right in that same playoff race, the Kings, did make a move to try to squeeze an extra win or two out, dealing for Harrison Barnes. But Sacramento’s problems have been on defense, and Barnes isn’t much help there.

All of this is to say that LeBron and the Lakers, assuming the star remains healthy the remainder of the season, should probably make the playoffs. After a stunning win over the Celtics on Thursday, the Lakers sit 1.5 games behind the Clippers (who lost big in Indiana) for No. 8 and a half-game behind the Kings for No. 9. These margins are trivial. The Lakers should be able to overcome them.

In fact, there’s a shot that the Lakers catch the Spurs or Jazz, tied for the No. 6 spot. Those teams are three games ahead. San Antonio is on the rodeo trip, and has lost three straight. L.A. would have a tough time passing all of these teams — the No. 7 seed seems like a best case scenario.

The No. 7 seed would mean a first-round series against the Nuggets, who are very good but haven’t made the playoffs in years. No one on that roster but Paul Millsap and Isaiah Thomas are playoff-tested. (And Isaiah still has to be integrated into the team.) The Lakers wouldn’t exactly be favored in a series against the superior Nuggets ... but every last one of us would at least think LeBron had a real good shot at leading L.A. past Denver, wouldn’t we?

Count out LeBron in the playoffs at your own peril. Sure, the West is different. But you can’t tell me any West team below the Warriors is better than, say, the Raptors of the past few years. The Raptors that LeBron’s teams in Cleveland consistently destroyed. Count out LeBron in the playoffs at your own peril.

If the Lakers get to the playoffs, and then win a series: this season will have been a complete success. L.A. will enter free agency is prime position to pick up a big name like Kawhi Leonard or Jimmy Butler or DeMarcus Cousins, even if they can’t trade for Anthony Davis. The Lakers should make the playoffs, might win a series, and will be better next season.

What more can you ask?

Of course, maybe LeBron is still hobbled and has to sit out too many games for the Lakers to make the playoffs. (What percentage of non-Laker NBA fandom is rooting for the Kings to win the No. 8 seed and face off against the Warriors? 99 percent?) If L.A. misses the playoffs, this season goes down as a disaster, a horrible stain in LeBron’s oeuvre. If L.A. sneaks in, gets swept out, and comes up empty in free agency and on the trade market, it’s a nightmare for the front office and a brutal hit to LeBron’s legacy.

But ifs don’t matter until they occur. For now, the path to calling this season something like a success is clear: win some more games, make the playoffs, convince one star to join the club, declare victory. The deadline went poorly, but it’s not the end of this story. All of this can be salvaged.