Lakers beat Pelicans: D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves give Pelinka the reason for not moving at NBA trade deadline

The Los Angeles Lakers won against the New Orleans Pelicans after a disappointing NBA Trade Deadline for the Los Angeles Lakers.

D'Angelo Russell raised his voice again, making it clear that he did not deserve to be traded for a Dejounte Murray type player, and finished the duel with 30 points and 6 three-pointers. Double-double for a LeBron James who, despite the bad feeling he seems to have with GM Rob Pelinka, will continue to compete until the end of the season regardless of what he decides in the summer. The leading scorer in league history finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds.

All five members of the starting lineup of the Los Angeles team surpassed 20 points: Anthony Davis scored 20 points, Rui Hachimura scored 21 and Austin Reaves also had a good performance (he was also in the middle of transfer rumors) and closed the game with 27 points;

Obviously, with this level of Russell and Reaves the Lakers can fight for everything in a Western Conference that is wide open beyond the obvious favoritism of Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets who the night before stormed the Cryto in the tribute to Kobe Bryant.

Beyond the great game of the Lakers' starters, the Pelicans were horrible on defense, allowing 51 points in the second quarter! They are a team that, despite their good season, have not been able to find absolute consistency to confirm themselves as a favorite in the West and at the trade deadline they did not do anything outstanding. Yesterday the best player was Zion Williamson with 30 points that were useless. Brandon Ingran contributed 22 points and CJ McCollum scored 19.