Lakers News: LA Expected To Make Stunning Trade Deadline Move
After being incredibly active during most of his previous transaction periods (with one notable exception), Los Angeles Lakers team president Rob Pelinka is apparently poised to...
...Sit around and do nothing by this year's trade deadline, slated for just over an hour from now (noon PT)!
Sources have informed Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that LA's "probable path" transactionally is waiting for the 2024 offseason to make any kind of deal, as the team will be able to trade three first round draft picks, with which Pelinka clearly hopes to nab a major asset.
LA will surely make some buyout additions. The team will improve, but ultimately, it won't be making any major moves this season. Its 2024 title window is now more or less closed.
Let's talk about the last time this happened in Los Angeles: the 2022 trade deadline. The Lakers were in the middle of a Season From Hell. After jettisoning key pieces of LA's 2020 championship depth in favor of a rapidly aging Russell Westbrook, Pelinka had doubled down on decrepit dudes, signing a flurry of minimum-salaried free agents well past their expiration dates. By the deadline, it was clear the team was probably headed for the lottery. Rather than attach picks to Brodie's onerous contract to ditch him, Pelinka decided to stand pat. Westbrook was eventually flipped ahead of the next season's deadline.
This 2023-24 Lakers vintage isn't nearly as bad as the 2021-22 team (LeBron James may be a smidge worse, but he's been much healthier, plus he's 39, after all), but it also doesn't feel like a world-beater. Clearly, Pelinka is hoping to make a splash.
