Do you think a deal will be done before the Draft or on draft night?
David Grubb:
"The deal may be agreed to before the draft but not announced until after. Whomever the Pelicans make the trade with will probably be making a pick for New Orleans that night. As we discussed before, it benefits both sides because it allows the teams to circumvent the Stepien Rule and get back to back first rounders. It also allows the rookie salary to be included in the deal for matching purposes. But between now and then I wouldn’t trust most national reports. Smokescreens are everywhere."
To further explain the Stepien Rule that David is talking about here’s the definition from our previous discussion…
"…having the Lakers make the player selection on draft night and sign the player before making the trade. It helps the Pelicans get around the Stepien Rule that prevents teams from giving up first round picks in consecutive seasons."
What this explanation does show is that any deal that the Lakers potentially could have with the Pelicans is attached to draft night. That is still only a small part of the deal. The Lakers still will have to give up players and draft picks for David Griffin to be interested. Let’s remind everyone what David thinks the Pelicans would want in his opinion…
Brandon Ingram
Kyle Kuzma
Lonzo Ball
Josh Hart
The player selected at #4
(You’d have to include all to match salaries)
2020 First round pick
2022 First round pick
The Lakers would have to give more picks because the expectation is that they will be lower first round choices.
This weekend will be an important one for the Lakers and especially Rob Pelinka. If he can pull this trade off, it can distance himself from that fracas in earlier negotiations and can get him off the hook. Fans will blame Magic Johnson for the leaks and everyone will move on case closed.
https://twitter.com/ESPNLosAngeles/status/1138583264443097088
I will say this. The Los Angeles Lakers will have a tell-tale sign that will show that they got Anthony Davis. It will be on June 20th 2019. Plus fans will not have to wait long to see if it happened or not either.
That scenario will be discussed really soon. There you have it. Keep it locked to Lake Show Life for extensive analysis of all the Lakers options on the free agency and draft fronts.