Los Angeles Lakers: In Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka we trust

The Los Angeles Lakers front office combination of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka is one we should trust in.

Beneath his beaming smile and charming personality, Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson, is ultra-competitive. He goes all-out to win… in sports, in business, in anything he attempts.

It wasn’t by accident that his Michigan State team won the NCAA title in his sophomore year. Or that during his 12 full NBA seasons, his Showtime Lakers teams made the NBA Finals nine times and won five championships. If not for some ill-timed playoff injuries, it’s conceivable they could have even won one or two more titles.

Now, as president of basketball operations, his goal for the current Lakers is to become that same kind of perennial contenders. To get there, he strongly believes they must have at least one superstar on the court.

NBA history proves that his notion is absolutely correct. Since Magic was a rookie helping the Lakers win the title in 1980, 37 of the last 38 NBA champions were led by at least one superstar.

Every one of those 37 title teams had at least one Hall-of-Fame player (or one certain to be elected when eligible) on its roster, including Magic and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Moses Malone and Julius Erving. Larry Bird & Kevin McHale. Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. The lone exception, the 2004 Pistons, had an entire squad full of very good players.

Prior to the trade deadline, when Magic and GM Rob Pelinka evaluated the current Lakers team (at the time the youngest in the league) in all likelihood they reached these conclusions:

Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma form a talented nucleus, and each will continue to get better. In time, perhaps one (Ingram?) will reach superstar status. However, none is at that level yet. So, they believed it is necessary to import an elite player to help move the team to the next level.
Julius Randle has elevated his play so substantially that the Lakers are much more likely to re-sign him than they were previously. He could then form a young ‘Big Four’ with Ingram, Ball and Kuzma.
Two other ‘Baby Lakers’, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr, were great contributors off the bench. At age 25, each is probably approaching his NBA ceiling. Johnson & Pelinka considered them expendable if trading them helped the team add a superstar. Even though both will be missed in the short-term, the front office kept in mind the long-term goal of winning a title.

As Magic later said, he is not satisfied to be in 11th place in the West. So he told Pelinka to engineer a deadline-day trade, which of course ended up being Clarkson and Nance for Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and the Cleveland Cavaliers 2018 first-round pick.

At first glance, the trade had some people scratching their heads. Why would the Lakers trade two of their prized Baby Lakers for two players with expiring contracts who they will most likely not re-sign?

Here’s an example of that thinking: after the trade, a friend and long-time NBA fan wrote to me and asked, “Have Magic & Pelinka lost their minds?”.

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Of course, the potential greater value of the player swap to the Lakers sits below the surface. By clearing future salary obligations, particularly to Clarkson, the team cleared enough cap space to sign two marquee free agents in 2018 and/or 2019.

With that in mind, the bottom line might change significantly. If Magic is successful in signing a prominent free agent like Paul George, then effectively the trade would be Clarkson and Nance for George and a first-round pick. Obviously, that deal looks considerably more attractive, one that most Lakers fans would accept that in a heartbeat!

After the swap was completed, Pelinka said that the team was able to hold onto most of its young assets. In addition to the Big Four, he meant that they retained players such as Josh Hart, who has been extremely impressive over the last month or so, and big men Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant, who are waiting to get the chance to contribute.

The Lakers are equipped to make up for the loss of the traded players. Randle, Kuzma and perhaps Frye or one of the young Laker bigs can absorb Nance’s minutes. At least for now, Thomas can essentially fill Clarkson’s role. And the Lakers hope that longer-term they can replace one of the departed players with the acquired draft pick.

Now it’s up to Johnson to deliver a superstar or two to LA, either this summer or next. He is outwardly confident that he will succeed. His number one priority should be to pursue only free agents who will fit well with their current players.

Paul George fits that criteria like a glove. He is probably one of the three best two-way offense/defense perimeter players in the NBA. (Oddly enough, the other two, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler, are both eligible for free agency in 2019 if they don’t re-sign with their current teams). George would be a terrific signing- IF he chooses to pursue free agency rather than staying in OKC.

On the other hand, Magic would be wise to avoid signing a ball-dominant player, especially an older one like LeBron James, because he would likely hinder the development of both Ingram and Ball. The proof of that is how unhappy and stifled both Kyrie Irving and Thomas felt when they were teammates of James in Cleveland. The best scenario for the Lakers going forward is that the primary playmakers remain Ball and Ingram

The only other potentially transformative free agent this July is the wonderfully talented DeMarcus Cousins. However, the Lakers need to be certain that he will fully recover from his torn Achilles. Also, they must be satisfied that he is rid of ‘attitude issues’ that plagued him earlier in his career.

Next: 10 Greatest Free Agent Signings In Lakers History

The trade demonstrates that Magic Johnson’s competitive juices are freely flowing, and that’s good news for Lakers fans. His track record strongly suggests that one way or another, he will successfully transform the Lakers into contenders once again.