The Lakers surprised many on Thursday by not trading their No. 17 pick and selecting Jalen Hood-Schifino. While a number of interesting names and teams were linked to the Lakers as trade options, the Lakers hung tight and did not move the pick to add win-now moves, instead opting to use their pick on a prospect.
After the draft, vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka spoke to the media about their selections. More broadly, though, he spoke also about the team option to use their picks and not make a deal.
Rob Pelinka on LAL’s mentality on draft night, seeking trades or keeping the picks: “The end goal is for us to put a championship-level product on the court … Sometimes you can’t make all of your moves in one fell swoop but we’re really excited about how the draft panned out”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 23, 2023
It certainly sounded like the Lakers had chances to trade back.