Why Didn't the Lakers Trade Their Pick?

[Showtime:Part2]

Rob penlinka is simply not a good gm. This season he looked like a genius only because reaves blew up. The guy has a history of bad decision making.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Because they aren’t willing to go all out and mortgage the future entirely for a 38 year old LeBron and oft injured AD.

They will continue to try and find players for the future while finding guys to help LeBron now around the edges.

But one thing we know, this LeBron and AD era is coming to an end in the next couple seasons. They best way to attract the next star free agent is to have a solid team and assets around him to build from.

So they are doing two things at once. They don’t want to be buried for the next 10 years when LeBron hits the wall or retires.

And even if they mortgage everything like the Suns did…do they win a championship? Or does another LeBron or AD injury derail the entire thing. You just can’t really trust these guys at this point.

[Gerald3Wallace]

Already reports saying the team didn’t find a trade partner that made us contenders. Complaining about Pelinka gets old. He made the deadline trade that saved our season.

[Gerald3Wallace]

Financial reasons . Buss isn’t willing to do what it takes…. See letting Caruso walk and how much trouble they give their free agents. Bet they cut bamba to save a couple dollars as well

Ehhh they just paid over $4 million just to move up 7 spots from 47 to 40.

[DanishLakerFan]

I dont think they could trade the pick since they didn't pick last year. Not entirely sure if they could trade it right after making the selection or if they had to wait until after june 30th when free agency starts. I may be wrong.

Also, they are in a situation where they dont have to do anything. They can "just" select the guys they like the most, bring back most of the current roster and then flip the picks during the season. Last seasons injury-plagued team only played a quarter of a season together, yet made the conference finals, so they might be relatively comfortable going into the season with current team.

Might not be a bad move either. I'm sure a potential Buddy Hield trade for filler and pick is going to be there later on, but if one of these young guys show some real potential they might be able to make a much better move later on.

[LakersLegacy]

I have a conspiracy theory on this:

"Puts on tin foil hat"

The trade to move up from 47 to 40 where the Lakers paid Indiana $4.35M in cash was a precursor to a future deal this summer. They grossly overpaid to move up, heck they could have probably straight up purchased a late first round pick or really early second round pick with that cash. Think of this as the old "future considerations", but in reverse. I know that they have long had their eyes on Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. So perhaps this was cash given now along with more cash when they finalize the transaction in the summer. Either Beasley & Cash for Hield or Beasley, JHS & cash for Turner. If they decline their TO on Beasley then it kind of kills this idea, so we will see.

'Removes tin foil hat"

GMs often do a small deal before a bigger one.

There’s no strings attached. It was extremely generous amount of over 4 million to move up to pick #40 from #47.

When / IF the Pacers trade either player they will absolutely call back the extremely generous team that helped them get an extra 4 million dollars when the Pacers didn’t likely care much between 2nd round picks in the 40s

[TheHartBreakKid]

I'm just curious what possible returns the "should have traded the pick" camp thinks was on the table that the FO passed on.