4 trades the Lakers can make after Rob Pelinka reveals all bets are off

If the Los Angles Lakers want to contend for a championship this season, they’ll need more than LeBron James and a prayer to do it. Competition is steep in the Western Conference as all the teams around them step up with big-time trades and internal growth pushing them deeper into the Playoff conversation. It appears like General Manager Rob Pelinka came to the same realization heading into training camp as he opens the door to a new round of negotiation.

During his availability at the Lakers Media Day session, Pelinka said the magic words that many Lakers fans have been waiting to hear since the summer began — he’s ready to take the next step in pushing this team toward true title contention in 2023.

Pelinka is open to dealing his first-rounders to make the Lakers a contender.

With LeBron signing a two-year extension to remain the face of the Lakers franchise, Pelinka is finally going to put his two first-round picks on the market in pursuit of a championship. Although two picks from a Playoff team may not sound enticing, there’s more than meets the eye. Due to previous trades and the league’s Stepien rule, Los Angeles only has two picks that it can move at this stage: its 2027 and 2029 first-rounders.

These are first-rounders that will be in play starting when LeBron is 42. It would be unprecedented (though somehow, a bit unsurprising) for the superstar to still be playing at that point in his career. So for whoever trades for those picks, it’s a roll of the dice at what may very well be L.A.’s post-LeBron era. Considering the organization’s current lack of assets and instability over the last decade, that’s not a bad gamble to take.

What these picks will mean, however, is that Russell Westbrook is coming back to your team. There are very few players who are even tradable for L.A. right now, and Westbrook’s hefty contract offers a chance to return a package of players who can put you back into the title mix.

Without further adieu, these four trades just came back into play in an enormous way.

Lakers give up their first-rounders, Westbrook to complete a perfect lineup.

If you haven’t seen some variation of this trade, you probably haven’t been paying very close attention to the NBA this summer. While the Indiana Pacers are publically aiming for a shot at the Play-In Tournament, it’s in the team’s best interest to lose games for greater draft odds. The minutes occupied by Buddy Hield and Myles Turner could be quite valuable for any number of their intriguing young players, so a return of two unprotected firsts might be enough to move on.

Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to whether Westbrook would ever suit up for the Pacers. On one hand, it might be a great chance for him to rehabilitate his public image while drawing more attention to the Pacers than they’ve had since Paul George played for the team. On the other hand, Indiana might opt to bench him or agree to a buy-out to prioritize its youth.

Either way, the Lakers would end up with an exceptional starting five including one of the players they were expected to acquire in Westbrook’s place, the aforementioned Hield. One of the best 3-point shooters in the game, Hield would instantly get better 3-point looks playing off two true stars in LeBron and Anthony Davis.

Turner is also a perfect complement to Davis, who notoriously prefers the power forward position to playing center. They’d be in contention for the best defensive frontcourt in basketball with enough floor-spacing and versatility to keep up with modern trends. Ultimately, this is the deal I’d be most interested in making if I were Rob Pelinka. It’s just a matter of convincing the Pacers.

Lakers gain financial flexibility, depth as San Antonio buys into its tank job.

Who would’ve thought we’d see the day when the Lakers and Spurs could feasibly make a trade with each other? It’s finally arrived with San Antonio hitting the reset button for the first time since its one-year tank to land Tim Duncan. With the Lakers trending up and the Spurs trending down, it’d be feasible for San Antonio to take on Westbrook’s contract in return for some impactful role players.

I won’t present a specific deal here since there are too many variations of the same players that could work. Any combination that includes two of Jakob Poeltl, Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson would be enough for San Antonio to trade for Westbrook since the team essentially didn’t use any of its cap space this offseason.

Poeltl is clearly the prize here, though he’d also be the most difficult to pry from San Antonio. One of the game’s most underrated bigs, Poeltl is an elite rim defender, rebounder and pick-and-roll partner who’s surprisingly light on his feet. The quintessential starting center, he’s less flexible than someone like Turner, but makes a tremendous impact at a low cost.

Meanwhile, Richardson and McDermott offer some much-needed shooting across various positions. While the latter is a higher-quality shooter, the former is a more versatile player who offers a lot on defense, as a secondary ball-handler and all-around team player. The number of picks it’ll take to make a deal happen would likely be contingent on which pairing, or even trio the Lakers get in return. Still, the impossible may become possible: L.A. and San Antonio could help each other out.

Good relations between Lakers & Jazz lead to a second deal this year.

So far, Patrick Beverley is the most important addition to the Lakers since the offseason began. His acquisition was the first step in building enough rapport with Utah for the Lakers to ship Westbrook to Salt Lake City in exchange for two veteran perimeter players in Mike Conley and Malik Beasley.

This deal is a little bit different than the others in that the Lakers lose out on a lot of flexibility. Neither Conley nor Beasley is on an expiring contract, which means Los Angeles would effectively be locked into these players for two seasons without more assets to make deals. With that being the case, along with Conley’s injury history, the Lakers might try to convince Utah to swap some second-rounders in exchange for Westbrook and the firsts.

Already, Utah is on track to deploy a lineup of players that don’t have a cohesive identity together. Upgrading their future seconds into two more unprotected first-round picks for the war chest should be worth bringing Westbrook back. Furthermore, this team isn’t good enough to make the postseason but it’s also not bad enough to contend for top-three lottery odds, barring some hardcore tanking strategy that likely wouldn’t appeal to first-year head coach Will Hardy.

So by adding Westbrook to the lineup, Utah will effectively be bad enough to get a good pick in a great draft while shedding almost $50 million from Russ’ deal the next summer while nabbing some coveted first-rounders. Some level of appeal should be there for both sides.

Hornets embrace the future by taking a year off, Lakers add two-way firepower.

Of the trades mentioned here, this is by far the most circumstantial. It’s a bet on the idea that Charlotte will come to grips with its own fate early into the season and decide that it’s time to embrace retooling instead of getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. This team was already but a fringe Play-In contender before losing Miles Bridges and Montrezl Harrell. Without them, Charlotte is better off leaning into the future by sacrificing the present.

By dealing two starters for Westbrook and two first-rounders, the Charlotte Hornets would be making a firm commitment to their future. Though his reputation among fans is tarnished, the former MVP is still in good standing with most players and is a legend in his own right. It’d be a fun opportunity to see Hornets star LaMelo Ball team up with Westbrook, bringing a flair and swagger that would entice fans to buy tickets while still contending for lottery odds.

With Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward, the Lakers add shooting, unselfishness and players who simply know how to compete at a high level. They simultaneously raise the team’s floor and ceiling as two individuals who can play on or off the ball while still making their presence felt. Rozier can recommit himself to defense a bit more after exploding as a scorer in recent years as Hayward offers creation that’s hard to come by at the small forward position.

Some trades are meant to improve a team’s chance at making the Playoffs, but for the Lakers, this trade puts them in the conversation of contenders. That’s hard to do coming off a year when you missed the postseason entirely.