Lakers Reportedly “Had Traction” On 3-Team Trade Before Deal Fell Apart

The Los Angeles Lakers were expected to make a move ahead of the trade deadline, but it didn’t happen. The front office was pretty quiet. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that the Lakers could have reached a deal with the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors but it fell apart.

Talen Horton-Tucker was the “star of the show.” The Lakers could have traded him away, but no, he is still a Laker. THT wasn’t the only player to leave the Lakers. Pelinka was about to lose some draft picks, too. I guess the front office really bets on these picks, otherwise they would have added a few selections to the trade package.

“L.A. also had traction on a three-team deal involving the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks on Wednesday, that would have involved trading away third-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker, but that also fell apart because of draft picks that would have needed to be included, sources told ESPN,” McMenamin wrote.

Lakers deal fell apart for a few reasons

The Lakers didn’t do anything ahead of the trade deadline. This put an end to each and every rumor in the NBA. Frank Vogel will move on with the same roster. Pelinka had his reasons to sway away from each and any trade deal.

The general manager talked about this and offered his take on the trade deadline.

“We were aggressive in a lot of conversations trying to improve this team,” Pelinka said. “We always want to put this team in the best position to win a championship, but ultimately didn’t find a deal that had net positive effect for sort of the short-term success of the team and the long-term. And those are both things we consider.”

New story: Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said he had “alignment” with captains LeBron James and Anthony Davis in letting the trade deadline pass without completing any of the deals that were available to L.A. https://t.co/0jqENhELCN

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 11, 2022

It’s interesting to note that the Lakers didn’t even try to shop Russell Westbrook. He sparkled the biggest speculation in the world of basketball, but Pelinka decided to keep him. Several analysts thought that the Lakers will also trade Kendrick Nunn and Trevor Ariza. I guess things won’t change in the near future. How does LeBron James feel about this? He didn’t reveal much in the last few weeks. He did deliver cryptic messages.