Lakers: Rob Pelinka Explains Why the Team Did Not Make Any Moves at the Deadline

The Lakers had opportunities to improve their roster via trades, but Pelinka did not think they were good enough deals. And it sounds like he has the future in mind.

The 26-30 Lakers did not make a move to improve their team at the deadline on Thursday. Even though most around the NBA did not expect any major moves by the team, not doing anything at all came as a big surprise. 

The Lakers were involved in plenty of rumors leading up to the noon deadline. Names like Terrence Ross, Dennis Schroder, and John Wall all came up in the final hours. But ultimately, they stayed the same team that they were on Wednesday night when they fell to the Trail Blazers. 

On a call following the deadline, Lakers VP of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka said that there were deals they discussed. But they decided that those deals were not good enough and that they did not help the team's bottom line. 

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

There were rumors that a deal with the Knicks fell apart late on Wednesday night, though details of that are scarce. Some suggested that Cam Reddish could have been headed out west along with Alec Burks. That would have been a pretty decent improvement for the Lakers roster. 

But it sounds like the Lakers were looking for the perfect deal, and were not willing to sell low on anyone. That would probably include Talen Horton-Tucker, who teams around the NBA have soured on this season. 

They'll now turn to the buy-out market to see if there are ways to improve their roster. There will be options, but it's a matter of fitting the right guys in.