General manager Rob Pelinka addresses future of Lakers, Luke Kennard trade

LOS ANGELES — Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka publicly spoke for the first time since the season began and the franchise officially sold, addressing the team’s trade deadline strategy and the future of the team regarding investment on and off the court.

Pelinka, who spoke to a group of local media, including the Southern California News Group, for nine minutes before the Lakers took on the Golden State Warriors on Saturday evening, called the team’s activity at the trade deadline “aggressive,” but in the way of turning down potential deals from other NBA teams rather than dramatically shifting the roster around. Ultimately, the Lakers only made one trade Thursday, opting to swap guard Gabe Vincent and a future second round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for sharpshooting guard/forward Luke Kennard.

“We were very aggressive,” Pelinka said. “We worked incredibly hard. We evaluated numerous things. … I can’t go into specific players or conversations with other GMs that would impede the trust of our business going forward, but we were super aggressive, had multiple conversations, had lots of them, got close on some things, but ended up making the move we made and we feel good about it.”

When it comes to roster construction, Pelinka said that the team is actively having conversations with a variety of potential additions for the team’s currently-open 15th roster spot, “doing their due diligence” on available players, saying that “at some point, probably, (we) will likely fill it.”

He added that the Lakers will also keep an eye on the buyout market, which currently includes the likes of guards Lonzo Ball and Cam Thomas, both of whom could bolster the team’s backcourt options heading into the final two 1/2 months of the season.

Saturday’s media scrum was also Pelinka’s first chance to address how the ownership transition between the Buss family and the Dodgers-controlling owner Mark Walter, an agreement which became official after the league’s owners voted to approve Walter on Oct. 30. Pelinka described the relationship between himself, Jeanie Buss — who remains the Lakers’ governor and continues to oversee the day-to-day of the franchise — and Walter as “working really, really strongly and well together.”

“I think Jeanie and I have had several amazing conversations with him and keep him informed on all the details,” Pelinka said. “It’s also been great to have, you know, sort of outside allies and advocates looking at the Dodgers and the success they’ve had and what they’ve built over there, and being able to tap into a person like Andrew Friedman for best practices.”

Pelinka expressed that he and Walter have spoken about emulating the Dodgers’ front office operations, with the caveat that how the financial structures of the league currently lie compared to Major League Baseball has caused a focus on other sides of the back-to-back World Series champion’s team strategy.

“I think just their draft process and sort of how they’ve established their farm system is amazing,” Pelinka said. “And I think there’s best practices in that as we evolve and get better going forward in those areas. And then just the way they’ve sort of built out their front office, how deep it is. There is no expense they’ll spare in being the best sort of front office in the world.”

Although Buss has been “incredibly supportive,” Pelinka said, Walter’s investment can allow the team to build out and become even better, the Lakers’ general manager added.

When asked about potentially expanding the team’s scouting and analytics departments or just the front office in general, Pelinka said that Buss and he did a “deep dive” with Walter on the areas he wants to see the Lakers grow and showcase aggressiveness. Such changes could come in the offseason.

“Looking at the Dodgers and how they built it out has been a great sort of example and North Star,” Pelinka said. “We’re still going through that process of how we’ll look in the offseason and what additions we’ll make. But there will be some positive changes and we will build things out, again, led by myself and Jeanie, and with Mark’s support.”