Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka is currently under a lot of pressure heading into the start of free agency, needing to make significant moves to improve the roster.
The Lakers are hoping to sign Luka Doncic to a contract extension when he is eligible in August, but first they must put together a roster that is capable of competing for a championship to get the Slovenian superstar to sign on the dotted line.
It’s no secret that the Lakers need to address the center position, and Pelinka said that will be a priority going into free agency, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Coming off the draft, we’ll be digging deep in meetings upstairs just prepping for free agency. As I said at the end of the year, we know one of the things we have to address is the center position and that’s clearly gonna be one of our focuses as we begin the free agency period. And that’s right around the corner, so we’re just looking forward to putting in the hard work and making sure we take care of all the needs on the roster to give JJ the tools he needs for this team to be great next season.”
Pelinka added that the team will also be active on the trade market given their limit spending power in free agency:
“Super active. We’re gonna turn over every stone and whatever resources the collective bargaining agreement gives us, we’re gonna use to the utmost. That’s what we gotta do. We have a couple players with player options, so we’ll get those decisions in just a handful of days and at that point we’ll know the tools that we have to go out into free agency and fill out the roster. But with the draft ending tonight, the work for that has already begun, but the draft focus will now shift to free agency and we won’t rest until we get it right.”
The Lakers will likely have a taxpayer mid-level exception to use in free agency with them already being linked to centers like Clint Capela and Brook Lopez.
If they want a more long-term answer in the frontcourt though, then they may need to look to the trade market. They are also said to be interested in adding more depth on the wing, so Pelinka clearly still has a lot left on his offseason to-do list.
Rob Pelinka predicted a lot of moves in NBA this offseason
The NBA offseason is already off to a hot start with players like Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Desmond Bane, Anfernee Simons Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope being traded.
That is what Rob Pelinka predicted at the start of the offseason, although to this point the Lakers have yet to get involved in the action outside of moving up in the second round of the draft.
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