“Keep LeBron James and AD, make moves for everybody else!”: Shaquille O’Neal already has an off-season plan for the Los Angeles Lakers

Shaquille O’Neal believes the Lakers should trade the whole Lakers squad except for LeBron James and Anthony Davis, would it work though?

There is hardly anything the Los Angeles Lakers could or would be able to do to save their 2021-22 season. After Sunday’s loss against Nikola Jokic and Co, they are now on a 6-game losing streak and in the 11th spot on the Western Conference tally.

What makes their chances even more unlikely is that they are now 2-games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the last Play-in. While the Lakers keep on losing crucial games, Gregg Popovic’s team made an exciting comeback on Sunday to win the game 113-92 against Chauncey Billups’ young Blazers.

Also read: “We win them all… we don’t want to go to the play-in tournament.”: Nikola Jokic has a simple goal for the Nuggets, collects MVP chants in Los Angeles

Although it’ll all come down to the last 4-games left for both the teams against some solid Playoffs teams, it’s pretty much clear already that the Spurs have a much better chance of winning more games. And as they already have a cushion of two games over the Purple and Gold if they win just one more and the Lakers lose any one of their last 4, the Spurs will be through on head to head.

And at this crucial time, the LA team doesn’t even have its top scorer to try to get those to the 4 victories due to an ankle injury. While LeBron James missed the game against the Nuggets last evening, Anthony Davis took his responsibilities, but the result was pretty much similar.

Even with the failures of all forms, be it injuries or chemistry with the team, Shaq wants his former team to retain the superstar duo and trade away the rest of the squad.

Shaquille O’Neal asks the Lakers to keep LeBron James and AD, trade the rest

Shaquille O’Neal speaks without filter all the time, and the Diesel didn’t hold himself back in saying that Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka should trade away Russell Westbrook and all the rest of the Lakers supporting cast in the coming offseason.

Shaq on what the Lakers should do this offseason

“Keep LeBron and AD and make moves for everybody else.”https://t.co/zOwsB7Ryyo

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 3, 2022

Although that could help the Lakers theoretically if both LBJ and AD could be fit and themselves throughout the next season. But they haven’t been fit enough to play and take their team to any significant position for the past two years.

‘How would they be doing it in the season?’ must be the question for Lakers management if they really think they should do what The Diesel is suggesting them to do.

On the other hand, trading those two away could get them a lot to rebuild, which they will anyway be doing in a season or two after LeBron retires.

Also read: “LeBron James has earned it… I’m not going to be jealous of him!”: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shares his thoughts on the Lakers’ superstar closing in on his scoring record

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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