We are two weeks away from the season opener for the Los Angeles Lakers, as they will square off against their cross-city rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. It will be an extremely anticipated game, even more so this season with the Clippers adding Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the offseason. Not to be out-done, the Lakers added their own superstar this summer in Anthony Davis.
They did so in a July trade that really started all the way back in February during the trade deadline. The trade couldn’t get done at the time with the then GM of the Pelicans, Dell Demps, but was done following the conclusion of the NBA Draft Lottery with new EVP of Basketball Operations for the Pelicans, David Griffin.
Lakers fans were sad to see Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart go, but we’re also extremely excited to see Anthony Davis pair up with fellow Klutch Sports superstar, LeBron James. It’s hard to even think about the Lakers without the two close superstars at this point, but Rob Pelinka recently revealed in an ESPN piece from Dave McMenamin that he had doubts about the deal happening all the way up to the day the deal was completed. Here’s what he had to say:
Major NBA trades live on the edge of a dime. I think maybe the everyday fan doesn’t know how the fulcrum is so razor-thin, and something’s close to being done and then it’s far from being done and then you think you have it done and you start over.
The day that it was completed, I remember there were a number of hurdles that seemed insurmountable that came up where we thought this just is never going to happen.
Breathe easy, Lakers fans. He’s on the team (for this season at least).
Although Lakers fans can now take comfort in knowing they’ll get to see arguably two of the top five players in the NBA play in the purple-and-gold together, it’s insane to think about how the main person on one side of the deal didn’t think it would happen. Only to have the deal happen probably within hours, or even minutes, of those negative thoughts.
Pelinka says that “major NBA trades live on the edge of a dime”, and not only is that another classic Pelinka-ism, it’s also cool to hear him give insider context on his thoughts on one of the biggest NBA trades in recent history.
