Here is a list of the five NBA teams that are under the most pressure this coming weekend, with the Lakers at the top of the list.

Here is a list of the five NBA teams that are under the most pressure this coming weekend, with the Lakers at the top of the list.

The NBA trade deadline is shaping up fast, but not all people who want to trade are the same. Let us look at Oklahoma City OK. This pretty much sums up what “house money” means.

Even if they don’t make any moves, they might end up with the most impressive record in the Western Conference.

However, their three finest players are 25, 22, and 21 years old, and they have more tradeable draft dollars than any other team in the NBA.

Since it’s NBA trade deal week, there will be a lot of rumors going around between now and Thursday. But for now, we’ll only be able to wait and see whether any of them turn into real trades.

Big names that were supposed to be moved before the deadline have already gone to their new teams. Pascal Siakam (Pacers), OG Anunoby (Knicks), and Terry Rozier (Heat) are just a few examples.

Still, a lot of players who have been linked to moves, like Dejounte Murray, have to wait until after February 8 to find out if they’ll begin playing for a new team. That changes a lot about how the Illinois Bulls will play Thursday and the rest of the summer.

Zach LaVine is almost certain to stay with his current team. On Saturday, the Bulls announced that the All-Stars guard has decided to have surgery on his foot that will end his season. This means that he will not be available for trade.

The Los Angeles Lakers had not played a game since winning the NBA’s first in-season tournament at Las Vegas on December 12.

And Mavericks center Dante Exum was cooking. He was picked fifth overall in the draft and had played in Spain as well as Serbia the past two seasons.

A couple of moments into the opening period, Exum made an open 3-pointer. LeBron James had purposely left Exum open so that Luka Doncic couldn’t get to the basket.

The Mavs went ahead by seven points with 52.1 seconds left on the clock thanks to a dagger 3 from the corner.

Exum started in place of Kyrie Irving, who was hurt, and had only made eight 3-pointers in 28 attempts all season. He made 7 out of 9 shots against the Lakers.

“Operation great; patient dies,” L.A. coach Darvin Ham said about the Lakers’ 127–125 loss, referring to a phrase that former Milwaukee Bucks leader Mike Budenholzer often used when Ham was just an assistant coach for the team.

The team did not have enough players to both stop Doncic and switch to the hot shooter. Jarred Vanderbilt, the Lakers’ best defender when the ball is in play, was out with an injury to his back.

Gabe Vincent was signed during the offseason to help with shooting and perimeter defense.

He was hurt in his left knee and has only been able to play in five games so far. He will be out for a minimum of another month.

It was even worse than the loss in Dallas on the first night of back-to-back road games. The next day, they played the struggling San Antonio Spurs.

The Lakers were having problems just a few days after beating the Indiana Pacers to win the IST championship.

Sources told ESPN that the team had talked about a plan to rest stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis the next night with San Antonio after playing against Dallas. Davis was still having hip pain, and the team was aware of how much James had been playing as a 21-year veteran.

James sat because he didn’t want to risk another loss, so Davis played. Davis turned his ankle in the first minute, but he kept going and scored 37 points during 38 minutes.

Vic Wembanyama and his team made a 45–30 comeback in the fourth quarter, but L.A. held on to prevail by three points.

Throughout the tournament, they went on a terrible 4–10 stretch that was hampered by injuries, defensive mistakes, and growing rumors of lineup problems and unhappiness.

Now that it’s February 8, one month until the NBA trade deadline, the team’s stars are having some of the healthiest times of their careers and the rest of the team isn’t doing very well.

“I guess I got a small sample size for what we can do when we’re complete, but I have more of a bigger pie of what our appearance is like when we’ll be not,” James said at the close of December when L.A. had been stuck for a month. “Now that’s a thing that makes me sad.