Landing Davis, who demanded a trade and wanted to be in L.A., was arguably the easy part. The tougher challenge is to build an actual team. And we don't yet know if Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has the skills to do it.
Rival executives have their doubts. And the Davis trade—which cost the Lakers their two best young players and effectively four of their next six first-round picks—simply underscored those doubts.
It might be, as The Ringer's Bill Simmons asserted on his podcast, the best haul ever received for a traded star.
"Lakers overpaid by a significant margin, given the conditions," one longtime team executive said.
"Experienced front office vs. inexperienced," a veteran team official observed.
By most standards, the Pelicans should have been the ones negotiating from a position of weakness.
It’s a stunning, impressive haul.
You could say the Lakers won the trade but lost the negotiation.
"Let's just wait to see who lost the negotiation," another rival GM cautioned. "What we can say with certainty is all the pressure surrounding Pelinka [stemming from Johnson's departure and the resulting stream of controversy] 1000 percent creates pressure for him to deliver on something like this. And when you're under that sort of pressure to deliver something like this, you're in a disadvantageous negotiating position."
Or, as the first team executive said, "Never let your GM be in a spot where he needs to make a trade to save his job."
Just a few excerpts above.
Thoughts?
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2841775-nba-execs-skeptical-lakers-can-build-a-title-team-after-anthony-davis-overpay