Amidst the Bronny draft uproar in the fanbase, it seemed like the Lakers have made a lot of moves in the off-season. But, in reality, Jeanie Buss and Co. are yet to make their first off-season trade. Even during the free agency market, the LA side went all the way to stack their roster with experience. Notably, LeBron James came down to even sacrificing a portion of his salary, but it still didn’t move the needle. Amid this struggle, they approached various trade deals, and it only ended with Rob Pelinka walking out with a red face.

Apart from the Lakers’ pursuit of big guns like James Harden, Klay Thompson, and Jonas Valanciunas in the free agency market, the team also had an eye for other players. Notably, Jerami Grant, Kyle Kuzma, Bruce Brown, Cam Johnson, and a few others. The trade negotiation for the Portland Trail Blazers player Grant, however, has a hilarious back story. A Western Conference scout, who remained anonymous, mocked Rob Pelinka on his embarrassing trade talk with the Blazers’ GM Joe Cronin.

He said, “Joe Cronin asking for two first-rounders for Jerami Grant is hilarious. Portland traded one first for him and then gave him that terrible contract. Why would he be more valuable now than he was when they landed him two years ago? But it’s what you can do when you feel like the other team is desperate.”

This update came in around the time when the Lakers pursued Grant for their small forward Rui Hachimura. However, several reports claimed that the trade talk came to a standstill after the Japanese player injured his calf in the Paris Olympics. Nevertheless, the LakersDaily has shown the possibility of a different reason, citing failed negotiations between the sides. Rob Pelinka has a few other players on his list to pursue before the upcoming season, but the question is, will other teams come forward to help the LA side?

What’s left in the Lakers’ off-season road after so many failures?

With less than three months left for the next season, the Lakers haven’t made any successful trades. Firstly, they started the off-season, by firing Darvin Ham. They took almost two months to finalize on JJ Redick. However, after his inclusion, the franchise seems to have picked up pace. The media hit the fans with multiple trade rumors involving the LA side. Unfortunately, none of them came out fruitful. As of now, apart from Jerami Grant, the LA side was linked to Lauri Markkanen, and Cameron Johnson for D’Lo in exchange. However, there’s still no clarity on the progress of these deals too.

The team’s pursuit of Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan came to a disastrous end as they both ended up turning down the trade and signing up with different teams. Speaking of it, LeBron James said, “I think our front office, our coaching staff, they tried to do the job that they wanted to do or tried to get guys to come and it didn’t happen. And that’s OK.”

James further said, “We move on and Klay’s a great player. Obviously DeMar’s a great player. Valanciunas was one of those guys who ended up going to Washington, was someone that was in talks with us, but we move on to see how we continue to get better.” However, they haven’t made any trade since then. But, the team has picked promising talents like Dalton Knecht and Bronny James in the Draft. These two players are expected to evolve into lethal Lakers players through Redick’s player development program.

Other than this, it is now starting to seem like the Lakers would head into the next season with the same roster after so many failed trades. Will LeBron James win his 5th ring with this roster? Let us know in the comments.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.