The Los Angeles Lakers are so depleted in talent and it is all thanks to Rob Pelinka. After winning the NBA Championship in 2020, Pelinka has done everything he can to strip down the team and turn it into what it is today.
It is really sad how the Lakers have fallen from grace, especially considering how many other routes would have been better than the one the team took. Bad move after bad move has compounded into a 2022-23 season that has been a disaster.
We all know about letting Alex Caruso walk and trading for Russell Westbrook instead of Buddy Hield. What makes it even worse is the fact that if Pelinka wasn’t giving first-round picks out like candy then the Lakers could have some promising young stars right now.
And no, this has nothing to do with the picks traded in the Anthony Davis trade. These are picks that Pelinka traded after the fact in some boneheaded moves.
Here are 3 young stars that the Lakers missed out on thanks to Rob Pelinka:
1. Desmond Bane
The worst example that should keep Rob Pelinka up late at night is Desmond Bane. Bane was selected with the 30th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft when the Lakers originally had the 28th overall selection.
So what happened to the Lakers’ pick in that draft? The team traded it alongside Danny Green for Dennis Schroder. Not only did the team get worse in going from Green to Schroder but they traded a first-round pick and a chance of landing someone like Bane to do so!
This is not revisionist history, either. Bane and the Lakers had a pre-draft meeting with Bane himself saying that there was mutual interest. If the Lakers still had their pick then they probably would have selected the 24-year-old two-guard who is averaging 24.7 points this season while being a career 43.6% three-point shooter.