Lakers News: How "Pre-Agency" Trades Impacted Rob Pelinka's Free Agent Planning

LA's general manager had a plan all along!

Looking back at the frenzy that was the Los Angeles Lakers' trade deadline in the 2022-2023 season, it should certainly be deemed a success. They were able to get off of Russell Westbrook's huge deal, bring in some younger pieces all-around and make a push to the Western Conference Finals while taking down the number two-seeded Memphis Grizzlies along with the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

Better spacing and depth led to us seeing D'Angelo Russell thrive in the second half of the season with LA and he also was a key contributor in their first two playoff rounds. The likes of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt also found their perfect roles within the squad and provided support that LeBron James and Anthony Davis had not seen in a while.

And when you factor in that both Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba were allowed to walk after not contributing much and they were replaced by productive roles players in free agency, LA has had a very solid last 4-6 months of roster construction.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne broke down GM Rob Pelinka's pre-agency methods as a huge reason as to why LA looks locked and loaded heading into the summer!

"Rob Pelinka called this pre-agency after the Lakers made all of those trades in the midseason," said Shelburne. "Pre-agency is take a look at some of these players and how they can build for your franchise. Also, put yourself in a position to bring back a guy like D'Angelo Russell on a two-year, $37 million deal. That is a bargain for a guy who was making $37 million last year. It's a tough market because of the new CBA and because the teams that had cap space already spent their cap space. They could not have drawn up a free agency that looked better for them."

(Via NBA on ESPN)

This new squad certainly looks great on paper, we cannot wait for training camp.