Lakers Rumors: Is L.A. Unwilling To Send Out First-Rounders In Deals?

When it comes to improving the team, are your Los Angeles Lakers really open to snoozing on the MVP-level output of All-NBA center Anthony Davis this season?

A source informed Ric Bucher of Fox Sports that a trade including either of the team's two movable future first-round draft picks, in 2027 and 2029, "ain't happening."

Were this to prove to be the case, it would represent a massive wasted opportunity for Los Angeles.

Bucher adds that his source has also told him starting point guard Patrick Beverley (whom Bucher erroneously lists as a back-up) could be had via trade... which anyone with two eyeballs could probably have figured out. The market for Beverley seems limited, given that he is earning $13 million and shooting 27% from the floor (not from three, from the floor) this year.

Bucher notes that L.A. team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, the team's key front office decision-maker, apparently is prioritizing the future over making moves to improve the team in the present. This is a strange way to operate when (a) you're the Lakers and can sign pretty much anybody if you have money in free agency and (b) LeBron James will turn 38 years old in 23 days, and has already begun to decline somewhat from his MVP peak.