A little over a week ago, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said that there was no asset he wouldn’t trade — including the team’s two currently tradeable first-round draft picks — if it made Los Angeles the “frontrunner” for a championship.
“I think the calculus for the Lakers is to win a championship or not,” Pelinka said at the time (as transcribed by Sam Quinn of CBS Sports). “There’s no in-between or incremental growth. So as we analyze opportunities, we have to do it through that lens. And I said this at the beginning of the season, if there’s an opportunity to get all the way to the end and win a championship, there’s no resource we’ll hold onto if we feel like that’s there.