Only two current players on the Los Angeles Lakers, Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubac, were on the team when Magic Johnson was hired in Feb. 2017 to take over as president of basketball operations, replacing Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss. Several other players added later were only on the roster for a relatively short time.
Most of the deals engineered by Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka were concerned with receiving draft picks and clearing salary room more so than with acquiring quality players in return.