Lakers Rumors: Potential New Timeline For Rob Pelinka To Make Trade Decision
It looks like Los Angeles Lakers fans will now have to wait a bit longer for any kind of major roster shakeup.
Though it had previously been reported that team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka was holding off until, well, around now to potentially trade any current Los Angeles Lakers.
The most intriguing trade chips L.A. has seem to be the $47.1 million expiring contract of Russell Westbrook and the team's next two tradable future first-round draft picks, in 2027 and 2029. Other expiring non-minimum contracts Los Angeles would no doubt be happy to be ditch would be the $13 million deal of known shover and starting point guard Patrick Beverley, who is giving Los Angeles nothing on offense, and the $5.3 million contract of reserve guard Kendrick Nunn, who is averaging a woeful 5.6 points on 36.9% shooting from the floor while also playing zero defense.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN spoke at length on his podcast Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective (an excellent resource for picking up this kind of NBA transaction scuttlebutt) about Pelinka's approach to the roster:
“What they feel is realistic is playing .500 ball until December 15th when deals start to potentially open around the league because that’s when contracts that were signed this past summer can be traded. And then maybe you can finally make this mythical draft-pick trade that’s been talked about for months and months and months sometime in late December to mid-January and have that be an additional thrust to the type of basketball you’ve already been doing, you’ve already established.”
January 15th marks the moment other NBA deals signed later in the summer (like those of, say, Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton) become available.
Pelinka may be hoping to make a bigger splash than frequently-floated possible deals with the Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers. Washington Wizards star shooting guard Bradley Beal has been rumored to be a target of interest, but even if Pelinka waits, there's a chance his current team remains pretty darn good for a while.
Sporting a 10-8 record, the Wiz currently occupy the East's sixth seed, and are just four games behind the top-seeded Boston Celtics (14-4). The flip side of that equation (and a bit of a silver lining for Lakers fans) is that the Wizards are merely 2.5 games ahead of the 12th-seeded Miami Heat (8-11). Should Washington's luck turn, with perhaps an ill-timed Kristaps Porzingis or Beal injury, the team could easily tumble out of the Eastern Conference playoff landscape. It does make sense to wait until more contracts can be dealt, this writer is just surprised at Pelinka's patience.
