Los Angeles Lakers front office continues to show inexperience
The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to a trade for Anthony Davis, yet the front office has still failed overall.
The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the basketball world with their agreed upon trade for Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans. It was a long time coming, as the Lakers finally landed the second star they have coveted to play alongside LeBron James.
To get the deal done, the Lakers surrendered virtually all of their assets. Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and three first-round picks, including the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft were going to New Orleans. There are also potential pick swaps as well.
There have been plenty of debates about the reportedly agreed upon trade. Did the Lakers send too much to the Pelicans to land Davis?
Possibly, but they now have two of the best players in the NBA on one team. Yet, that isn’t the biggest reason to come away still not trusting the front office. The reason fans should be disappointed is that it seems like management didn’t do their homework.
Once the deal was reported, fans immediately hit social media discussing how they would round out the remainder of the roster. With Davis coming, some people want to add a third star via a max contract. There is an issue with that, however; the front office seems to not have accounted for that.
During an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, Ramona Shelburne shared some insight into the situation the Lakers currently find themselves in.
"“It’s all so unnecessary, too. Like, the way this trade was constructed, this should have been first and foremost on their minds as they were talking to the Pelicans in a way where they set themselves up. If this was really their plan — that they want to have a third star — this should have been central to the conversations with the Pelicans and my understanding is that it was not. They went all the way down the road and it’s been described to me as a, ‘The Lakers called back,’ after everything had been discussed about this — the timing.”"
According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks of ESPN, the Lakers are now hustling to create enough space to have a max slot available for free agency. They are going as far as trying to change the parameters of the deal.
You read that correctly. The Lakers’ management is looking to reshape the trade deal with the Pelicans for Davis because they realized they do not have the necessary cap space to use on a max player this summer.
More from Lake Show Life
- Darvin Ham adds to Max Christie hype train after Lakers preseason opener
- Is LeBron James playing tonight? Latest Lakers vs Warriors update
- Can Darvin Ham put all of the Lakers puzzle pieces together?
- Lakers news: Darvin Ham knows his fifth starter, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino praise
- Michael Malone’s painfully ironic comment has Lakers fans heated
Los Angeles needs to make these moves to go from $23.7 to $32.5 million available in cap space. That is something you would think a professional team would figure out before agreeing to the parameters of a deal, but, here we are.
Trying to change a deal that is already agreed to is not a great way of doing business. Rob Pelinka already has a spotty reputation around the league and this is unlikely to help him. It is hard to imagine other teams will go out of their way to help the Lakers facilitate this extra money dump without being compensated in some way.
Outside of James and Kyle Kuzma, the only other players currently on the Lakers’ roster are Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones.
Things wouldn’t have come down to this had the Lakers just prepped for it beforehand. Trying to find a third team originally would have been a lot easier than trying to rework things now. A trade that should get the fan base excited is making more and more negative feelings by the day.