Los Angeles Lakers Would’ve Traded Two First Round Picks For Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell

The Los Angeles Lakers had been reportedly open to buying and selling away their two first-round picks to accumulate present Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving and present Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell.

This is what GM Rob Pelinka needed to say about this:

“If you make that trade, it has to be the right one. You have one shot to do it,” Lakers GM Rob Pelinka stated at media day, pulling again the curtain slightly on his considering of buying and selling two first-round picks. “So we’re being very thoughtful around the decisions on when and how to use draft capital in a way that will improve our roster.”

According to what Pelinka stated, it strains up with what the Lakers have been saying all summer season lengthy with reference to buying and selling their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks.

That meant touchdown Irving or Mitchell, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin stated on The Hoop Collective Podcast.

“I’ve been told that had the Lakers been able to acquire Kyrie Irving or the Lakers been able to acquire Donovan Mitchell, either of those players, the Lakers were willing and able to move both those [first-round] picks to do it.”

The Lakers traded all of their younger gamers and most of their picks to land Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, apart from those they let stroll away (Alex Caruso).

Before he was considered in making trades like he was this offseason, Pelinka made offers that backed him into this nook.

The Lakers seemingly may use each picks to accumulate Buddy Hield and Myles Turner out of Indiana (sending Westbrook again), however that doesn’t make Los Angeles a contender (a playoff workforce, however not a title menace), and it messes with the plan to have round $30 million in cap area subsequent summer season to chase an enormous identify.

For now, the present model of the Los Angeles Lakers you see now should be the one Lakers followers accept till extra strikes are made.