The Lakers seem to have fast-tracked their timeline with a rebuild around Luka Doncic after LeBron James made his intentions clear for what could be the final season of his NBA career. Instead of initiating a patient rebuild around Doncic, the Lakers are making moves to build a team that can contend for the championship immediately.
Hence, they added strong pieces like Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton to their roster, who have now significantly changed the way the Lakers looked at the end of last season. But there is still some anticipation of movement in the roster midway through the season.
On the latest episode of the ‘Lakers Nation’ podcast, Trevor Lane spoke about how the Lakers plan to be “aggressive” before the February trade deadline.
“Lakers sources have confirmed to me that the team intends to be aggressive heading towards February’s trade deadline. They want to get a look at things early on this season, see what’s what, and go from there. If the right move is available, they will make it… The goal for the season is to win a championship with LeBron James and Luka Doncic.”
This reported strategy is something that fans believed they had been hearing from Pelinka for a while, and he rarely delivered (before Luka Doncic). They went on social media and voiced their displeasure with hearing the same thing every year.
“Ain’t believing it till I see it.”
“Same story every year. And then, when nothing happens, the “we’ll be aggressive in the summer” starts. It’s a vicious cycle. Don’t believe until something actually happens on the trade front. #lakers”
“They’ve said this for the last 5 years lol.”
“Which, of course, is what they say every year. Personally, if it can be done, I prefer they recruit or trade at the beginning of the season so the team doesn’t have to gel on the fly. But this is the Lakers, so…”
“Rob is zero for a million with this strategy, but hey, keep at it.”
“Every year, they say the same thing and do nothing.”
“New day, same old Rob.”
The Lakers have filled their roster for the season and plan to take this unit into the first half of the season and look to make changes on the go. Therefore, this likely means that the Andrew Wiggins rumors should be on hold until the first few weeks of the season.
It seems like fans are attributing this strategy to the Lakers’ general manager, Rob Pelinka, whose future with the Lakers came into question upon the change in ownership. But a recent report claimed that as long as Jeanie Buss is in place as governor of the Lakers, Pelinka’s job is not expected to be at risk.
Therefore, the Lakers fans can expect a similar approach going into the next few seasons as well.
