Lakers may have found the right formula following trade deadline moves

After months of wondering and waiting if the Los Angeles Lakerswould make a deal, the team finally took initiative and struckbefore the NBA trade deadline — but they didn’t just make onemove.

The Lakers made four separate trades between Jan. 23and Feb. 9, switching out nearly half of their roster afterunderperforming for the majority of the year. So far, the resultshave been quite promising.

Since acquiring D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, JarredVanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, Mo Bamba and Davon Reed, the Lakers are4-1; most recently, it includes a massive 27-point comeback winagainst the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. LA now sits at No. 12 inthe Western Conference, but is just one game back of the NewOrleans Pelicans for the final spot in the Play-InTournament.

When you look at this retooled version of the Lakers roster, itlooks like a competent, balanced mix that makes sense together.Despite having two of the best players in the NBA in LeBron Jamesand Anthony Davis, it’s been a while since this team could saythat.

You have to go back three seasons — all the way to the 2019-20campaign — to find the last time that happened; ironically, LA wona championship that year. However, since then, vice president ofbasketball operations Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office havetried to reshape the roster over and over to try to find the magicagain. Those attempts led to disastrous results; the RussellWestbrook experiment was perhaps the poorest decision, as LA gaveup its best shooters and significant depth to acquire him.

It appears that, this time around, the Lakers finally learnedtheir lesson, as Pelinka and Co. executed a full reversal. Thefranchise dealt Westbrook for three pieces in Russell, Beasley andVanderbilt as part of its revamped "2.0" roster, and it’s just whatthe team needed as it makes a push toward the playoffs.