Will the Lakers ever trade their top draft picks? Rob Pelinka shares their strategy

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, left, and coach JJ Redick answer questions during a preseason news conference in El Segundo Wednesday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The banners above the practice court, the names of legends on the wall and, most important, the trophies in Jeanie Buss’ window in the Lakers’ practice facility tell the story of the team’s past.

As the organization nears the start of the 2024-25 season, general manager Rob Pelinka reiterated it.

Excellence is the standard that helped build the Lakers into one of the league’s best franchises, and it remains the goal, Pelinka said Wednesday. But inconsistencies around LeBron James since the team signed him have left the Lakers chasing sustainable success.

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“I think everyone in this building is cognizant of the fact that he’s almost 40,” first-year Lakers coach JJ Redick said of James, who has been back with the team training for the past two weeks after spending the summer leading the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal.

James’ presence and ability continue to mandate the Lakers be aggressive. His age and injury concerns for him and Anthony Davis require the team be more conservative in how they use their draft capital.

Pelinka set the trade rules he’s operating by when it comes to the team’s ability to trade its 2029 and 2031 first-round picks — the most useful pieces in their asset cupboard.

“I think the philosophy that JJ and I are aligned on is we want to build sustainable Lakers excellence,” Pelinka said.“… Yes, we would do a trade with both picks if that would lead to sustained Lakers excellence. We would also use one pick to make a marginal upgrade if we felt like it was the right thing to do. We looked long and hard and did a lot of work seeing if there are ways to increase the overall roster talent this offseason and the right move didn’t present itself.”

Read more: Lakers newsletter: Have the Lakers wasted LeBron James’ final years?

The Lakers search for roster improvement this summer turned up mostly empty. The team drafted rookies…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lakers-ever-trade-top-draft-230422692.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-09-25 23:04:22

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