The Los Angeles Lakers were considered title contenders this season, but instead find themselves battling for a play-in spot as well.
But with Russell Westbrook on a $44 million contract this season and not of much value to the opposition teams, the Lakers were unable to make any moves past the trade deadline.
While the impact of that decision may resonate far beyond title ambitions for this season, it is now questioning LeBron James' future in the franchise.
It comes after a string of calculated verbal grenades from Lakers superstars over All-Star Weekend, with NBA insiders speculating — what's the grand plan?
According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, it's not a case of James being out of the Lakers, but making it clear that he needs to make a big splash in the market before next season.
"James has apparently been offended twice by the Lakers' management in the last two weeks," Windhorst wrote.
The decision not to make any trades before the deadline was one thing but the latter's interview with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, claiming he had consulted with James and teammate Anthony Davis, was another entirely.
Windhorst wrote that Pelinka "stepped over the line" with comments that were later told there was "no prior sign-off" from James.
The Lakers superstar has been quick to act out with "passive-aggressive maneuvers in social media and news conferences" before going "aggressive-aggressive" before refusing to close the door on the Cleveland Cavaliers return.
The reporter James spoke to - Jason Lloyd of The Athletic - is someone he "knows well", according to Windhorst, who says that "he knew exactly what he was doing".
The same goes for James' comments a week before the Lakers failed to set a deadline, speaking about how his recent knee injury will continue to haunt him for the rest of the season.
"Knees are definitely an issue," Windhorst wrote, "but James was also laying the groundwork for giving himself options, depending on how the rest of the season plays out for the Lakers".
Windhorst believes James' recent comments all point in one direction - forcing the Lakers to take "major action" this summer.
James was hopeful that the Lakers would exercise their future picks at the deadline, but were "clearly disappointed" by the decision not to do so according to John Hollinger of The Athletic.
"The takeaways are unmistakable," said Hollinger, "that James is sad enough to put his own front office on notice".
And after trying to do it behind closed doors, James is now taking a very public approach.
"He tried to do it well and now he's doing it rigorously," Windhorst wrote.
"Being aggressive and mortgaging the future would be painful and risky. But James is making his feelings clear: He doesn't care.
NBA insider Mark Stein, however, warns that could come at a serious cost to James, regardless of how powerful he thinks he is.
"It's fair to wonder how much he's alienating the Lakers in the process," Stein wrote in his latest column.
Pelinka has the unwavering support of Lakers owner Jenny Buss and is firmly established as a pillar of the club's four-pronged brain trust, along with Buss and the power couple of Kurt and Linda Rambis.
“Remember: This is an organization that has completely broken up with Lakers icon Jerry West. James and Agent Rich Paul, for all the perceived control, are still in control when it comes to the Lakers’ power dynamics. There are outsiders. If West can be cut, rest assured LeBron too, if he can't lift the Lakers out of mediocrity."
"To all due credit, James deserves to take the Lakers out of the worst phase in franchise history, steel them through the tragedy of Kobe Bryant's death and hard-to-believe six-straight seasons from the playoffs." After conferring a championship, the shots released on Pelinka so swiftly cannot be forgotten.
The problem for James is that in addition to the many future first-round challenges, the Lakers still lack several other real assets that strike a game-changing trade.
Westbrook is owed more than $90 million this year and next year, making it extremely difficult to move on for anything significant.
Meanwhile, the likes of Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn are other smaller pieces that can be traded in but aren't going to attract any win-win returns.
There have been suggestions that Anthony Davis could be stepped up, but how it will fall short with James, who chose to trade the 28-year-old to the Lakers.
While James isn't actually contemplating an imminent move from L.A., Kyle Gone of the Southern California Newsgroup writes that its threat alone may be enough to spark action from the Lakers.
"James isn't just sharing life plans from his vision board: he's making a leveraged play against a front office who, until the end of this week, was believed to have pinned him," he wrote.
"Maybe the Lakers don't even believe James. But he's doing his best to surprise him with what happens in the summer of 2023, after his current contract expires. You don't always have to believe him." But you can trust that he always says things for a reason.
"For James, it was a warning shot at Pelinka and whoever had a stronger hand in personnel decisions in the Lakers hierarchy: change something, because this team is not going to win the championship."
And if the Lakers don't make any significant moves in the off-season, Ben Golliver of The Washington Post warns that the noise of James' exit will only get louder.
"Talking openly about his future reveals what he sees written on the wall," wrote Golliver.
“Just as his broken-down approach to roster building left the Heat in 2014 and the Cavaliers with limited options for improvement in 2018, James needs a miracle to reverse his fading fortunes in Los Angeles.
"It's worth considering the spectacle that will devour the Lakers if James returns next season without a real infusion of brilliance or detail around him. The Cavaliers and Heat both suffered a "hell storm"—James's phrase When he contacted free agency, and the investigation would be swiftly escalated to Los Angeles - to borrow.
With that in mind, Golliver had a one-on-one question for the Lakers Powerbrokers and either way, the answer will hurt.
"While the Lakers usually hog the attention, they just endured two exhausting and frustrating seasons. Do they have the stomach and stamina for a third?" He asked.
"Now that James is leaving Breadcrumbs and thinking publicly, the Lakers will soon need to decide whether this mutually beneficial partnership has run its course."