The Lakers Are Apparently Holding Onto Picks And Young Players For A Potential ‘Big Trade This Summer’

The Los Angeles Lakers are flying high right now, sitting at 17-11 and in fifth place in the Western Conference. They’re only two games back of the No. 1 seed out west, and after getting out to a slow start to the season, it looks like LeBron James and the weird mashup of young players and veterans are coming together well.

That’s a good thing, especially for those young players, as there’s no pressure right now on the Lakers to try and move any of them to get someone like there would be if the team were on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. As for whether that’s the case once the summer comes around, well, that’s an entirely different story.

The belief has been that the Lakers, including James, want to use this year to get everyone on the same page and go for broke starting next year. That means being aggressive in free agency and keeping all of their potential trade pieces in their back pocket, the latter of which Adrian Wojnarowski referred to on ESPN’s new show, Woj & Lowe. According to Wojnarowski, the Lakers are hesitant to move anyone now because of what could happen once the offseason rolls around, name dropping a certain big man for the New Orleans Pelicans who can become available.

“Here’s the line they have to walk,” Wojnarowski says. “They’re not gonna give away picks and their top young players in some deal that makes them incrementally better this season, because they’ve gotta save all those assets for Anthony Davis, a big trade this summer, either pre or post-free agency.”

This is why, Wojnarowski says, the Lakers have tried to make smart, short-term moves this summer. One of them worked (Tyson Chandler) and one of them did not (Trevor Ariza, who is now a Wizard), but this is the plan the Lakers are trying to follow this season.

Of course, that can always change with one cold stretch that puts them towards the bottom of the cutthroat Western Conference, but at the very least the plan makes sense for now. It could all fall apart if the team whiffs in free agency or if, say, Davis signs a supermax extension in New Orleans and trading for him is off the table, but what Los Angeles is doing makes sense for now.