Will the Lakers Ever Trade Their Top Draft Picks? Rob Pelinka Shares Their Strategy

The banners above the practice field, the names of legends on the wall and, most importantly, the trophies in Jeanie Buss’ window at the Lakers’ practice complex tell the story of the team’s past.

With the organization almost at the start of the 2024-2025 season, general manager Rob Pelinka emphasized this again.

Excellence is the standard that helped the Lakers become one of the league’s best franchises, and it remains the goal, Pelinka said Wednesday. But inconsistencies surrounding LeBron James since the team signed him have left the Lakers struggling to find sustained success.

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“I think everyone in this building is aware that he’s almost 40,” Lakers first-year coach JJ Redick said of James, who has been training with the team for the past two weeks after spending the summer leading the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal.

James’ presence and skill continue to force the Lakers to be aggressive. His age and injury concerns for him and Anthony Davis require the team to be more conservative in how they use their draft capital.

Pelinka has laid out the rules he’ll use when it comes to the team’s ability to trade the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks. These are the most useful pieces from their asset cabinet.

“I think the philosophy that JJ and I agree on is that we want to build sustainable Lakers excellence,” Pelinka said. “… Yes, we would make a trade with both picks if it would lead to sustainable Lakers excellence. We would also use one pick to make a marginal upgrade if we felt like it was the right thing to do. We looked long and hard and did a lot of work to see if there were ways to increase the overall roster talent this offseason and the right move didn’t present itself.”

Read more: Lakers Newsletter: Have the Lakers Wasted LeBron James’ Last Years?

The Lakers’ search for roster improvements this summer has yielded little in the way of results. The team drafted rookies Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, but was shut out of free agency and trades due to a roster that was already loaded.

With James entering his age 22 season and coming off a successful stint at the Olympics, Redick said the Lakers have a plan to start him earlier in the season.

“But when we look at the pickup games, he’s all in,” Redick said of James. “When he gets on the field, he’s all in. So in a way, we have to save him from himself sometimes, whether that’s in training camp, whether that’s in practice during the season.”

One such on-court moment came this week when James scored on his rookie son in a scrimmage. Redick acknowledged that the team will play a role in how the two make history this season when they become the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA.

“We don’t have anything planned, per se, in terms of a commitment to do it this way. Obviously we’ve talked about it as a staff and we’ve gone into some specifics about what that might look like,” Redick said. “But we haven’t committed to anything. And obviously that’s a conversation that needs to be had when we’re all together with Bronny and LeBron.”

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The Lakers continue to try to create a very tight framework where the team can be responsible with its future and at the same time compete for a title with the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on the roster.

“I think for any team to do well, you need good health and happiness and those are variables you can’t control. But with those things, we have a lot of confidence in those 15 players (on the roster),” Pelinka said. “I think the opposite of change or overhaul is continuity. And I think continuity can be very successful in sports. This is a core group that did make it to the Western Conference Finals.”

The team won’t have Jarred Vanderbilt or Christian Wood at the start of training camp because of offseason surgeries. Wood, who struggled in a limited role last year, underwent his second surgery on his left knee this calendar year. He’s scheduled for a reevaluation in six weeks. And Vanderbilt, who played just 29 games last year, underwent surgeries on both feet after the season ended.

“We’re optimistic that he’ll be available when the real games start,” Pelinka said of Vanderbilt.

Gabe Vincent, who struggled with knee injuries last season, is allowed to start training camp.

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Redick is, of course, the change the Lakers can count on the most.

“I would say we’ve tried to create an energy and a vibe in the gym every day. It’s a perfect balance of, I would call it ‘focused joy,’ if that makes sense,” Redick said of voluntary summer workouts. “We’re grateful every day to be in this gym — the staff, the players. But it’s focused, it’s intentional and it’s organized.”

As for the details on the court, Redick and Pelinka said the team is eager to improve the volume of offensive rebounds and three-point shots while creating more opportunities for Austin Reaves to work on the ball. Redick also said he’s been encouraged by young players like Max Christie and last year’s first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino.

“These guys have gotten significantly better over the last two months,” Redick said. “I’m really excited to see them compete in training camp and preseason.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.