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What's been circled for months with a giant Sharpie on a giant calendar is finally here, more or less. Thursday marks this season's NBA trade deadline. That's March 15 (beware!) to you and me.

It's a huge day for the Lakers, not just in how it shapes the fate of this season's team, but what it might say about the direction of the franchise this summer and beyond. Nothing in sports is completely cut-and-dried (including everything you'll read below) and because the Lakers can't make teams agree to trade with them on fair terms or force free agents to sign, matters of player personnel aren't totally in their control. But as I see it, the Lakers have three basic courses of action from which they can choose in the very and reasonably near futures.

Each position has merit, but no matter what side of the fence you fall, the Lakers have some very difficult choices to make now and down the road.

1. Go for broke this season.

PRO -- In the great high rise of roster construction, the Lakers' penthouse is filled. They have three All-Stars, giving them an elite player on the wing along with size and skill in the frontcourt most teams can't match on either side of the floor. They have some reasonably capable role players occupying the bottom floor apartments, as well. The problem is the vast empty real estate in between. An improvement at point guard and the addition of reliable bench scoring (to name two things) could have profound benefits, and can be addressed without moving superstars. Not only would the Lakers tick some empty skill-set boxes, but opposing defenses would be less able to load up on L.A.'s Big Three, comfortable knowing that (more often than not) nobody else can make them pay with any sort of consistency.

CON -- The Lakers aren't exactly rich with high-end assets outside Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. L.A. has a generous traded-player exception and an extra (likely late) first-rounder, thanks to the Lamar Odom deal. Andrew Goudelock, Darius Morris and Devin Ebanks have some appeal, but aren't high-end prospects for whom teams move mountains. This creates a few complications. First, there's no guarantee the Lakers have enough good stuff to get a Ramon Sessions-type if another team wants that player more. Not without overpaying, at least. Second, chips cashed in smaller deals can't be used in a potential blockbuster, whether at the deadline or beyond. Third, for an aging team with a closing window, there's a price to pay for giving away access to cheap, young talent. Trading picks and prospects extends the deal with the devil L.A. has been making for a few seasons.

Fourth, there's a very real chance the Lakers could make the moves and still not win, leaving them facing a still-uncertain future with fewer assets available.

2. Hold tight for a superstar.

PRO -- Obviously, it could be a smokescreen, but Orlando continues to say it won't move Dwight Howard at the deadline, and there are plenty of compelling reasons for them to hold tight. As long as Howard is in play, so is Deron Williams.

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Angry crowd today. Can't imagine why.

Click here for the transcript.

The room has closed for business, but you can still check out the conversation. Among the talking points: Gilbert Arenas vs. J.R. Smith... Mike Brown vs. Metta World Peace... and the trade deadline vs. the limited resources at Mitch Kupchak's disposal.

Plus, a reader suspects the Kamenetzky wives don't realize how fortunate they are being married to Lakers bloggers. Clearly, luckier stars have never been discovered.

Everything can be found by clicking the link here.

The NBA's trade deadline approaches. 'Tis the season to be tossing around rumors the way squealy teenage girls at a slumber party do.

For the Lakers, it means now-annual cries to improve their lot at point guard. This year, the list of potential upgrades is headlined by Chicago's Kirk Hinrich, with guys like Indiana's Earl Watson appearing down the bill. But while endless oxygen is sucked up locally figuring out which combination of players it would take to make a deal (everything starts with the expiring contract of Adam Morrison, and moves on to different combinations of Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, and even Derek Fisher, with Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga tossed in to balance salary requirements), very little is devoted to answering a more fundamental question:

Just how much do they need an upgrade, anyway?

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ESPN's Ric Bucher reports, via the NBA Today Podcast with Ryan Russillo, the Lakers have made inquiries on New Jersey point guard Devin Harris.

The money quote from Bucher (which comes at the 23:30 mark of the show, fyi): "As good as the Lakers can be, I don’t see them being dominant. I know that they inquired about Devin Harris from the Nets, which to me says they are very worried about their perimeter defense and they got to be looking at that (Ron) Artest for (Trevor) Ariza trade and going, “God, you know what, Derek Fisher is older than we thought, Jordan Farmar is not a defensive presence, Kobe (Bryant) is going to be driving one of these wheelies to get up and down the floor here any second. What are we going to do in a situation where we’re playing against a really quick perimeter (player), maybe more than one? We’re in tough spot."

(Incidentally, Bucher and Russillo also talk about the Andrew Bynum/Chris Bosh rumor, with Bucher saying it's a non-starter- makes sense- then going into a deeper analysis of the Bynum and the Drew/Gasol dynamic. I don't really agree with much/most of what he says, but it's still worth a listen. 32:40)

ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports the Nets aren't necessarily rushing to move Harris, who made an All Star team last season, earns $8.4 million this season and about $27 million more (give or take) through the 2012-13 season.

So, setting aside questions of whether or not the Nets would actually make a deal or unanswered questions about L.A.'s actual level of interest, how does this one set up?

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