NBA Trade Rumors: After months and months of rumors, Los Angeles Lakes general manager Rob Pelinka has made it clear that they are willing to trade their future first-round picks to upgrade the roster.
All offseason long, the expectation was that Los Angeles Lakers were going to make a big splash in an attempt to upgrade their roster. Though, that big splash never came for the Lakers. Instead, Los Angeles made other small moves throughout the summer.
But even though the Lakers have upgraded their roster during the offseason (with the additions of Lonnie Walker, Patrick Beverley, and Dennis Schroder), there’s still room for the team to make another move -especially with two future first-round picks that many around the league view as extremely valuable.
The Los Angeles Lakers need to be patient and smart with their assets
And when asked recently, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said that the team is willing to trade their future first-round picks if it means upgrading the roster.
Rob Pelinka says that the Lakers will do everything they can to improve the roster — including trading first-round picks — because of the commitment that LeBron James gave them this summer by signing an extension.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) September 26, 2022
It’s not clear if something changed during the offseason because there were many reports that indicated that the Lakers were hesitant to include future picks in any deal. This recent quote indicates that perhaps the extension that LeBron James signed may have changed some things.
And it wouldn’t be surprising if that is indeed the case.
But at the same time, it would be wise for the Lakers to be patient. The last thing the Lakers need to do is burn their final two future first-round picks in a deal that doesn’t drastically improve the outlook for this team heading into this season.
And that’s why the Lakers should play the long game, even if it means that the team will struggle out of the gate.
IF the Lakers end up trading one or both of their future first-round picks, it likely won’t happen until the NBA Trade Deadline. But at least we have some added clarity – that the Lakers would make the swap. It’s interesting to keep in mind.