Mitch Kupchak laughs at rumors the Lakers will trade their first round pick

The internet and radio waves have been flooded in recent days with rumors about the Los Angeles Lakers 2016 first round pick. First Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports reported that he had heard Los Angeles planned to trade the pick even if it was the first overall selection, which was soon followed by Bill Simmons of HBOreporting that the team might look to send it to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George.

Never mind that the Lakers only have a 55.8 percent to keep the pick, because if it doesn't land in the top three selections it must be conveyed to the Philadelphia 76ers, who acquired this last vestige of the Lakers' ill-fated Steve Nash trade.

Forget entirely how unlikely it is that breaking news about the Lakers would come from Cowherd or Simmons instead of an actual reporter. There is an even better reason to not necessarily buy that the Lakers are automatically going to move their pick: general manager Mitch Kupchak says no plan for the pick has been decided upon yet because the Lakers don't even have it yet:

Mitch Kupchak says he got a laugh out of the rumors that they will trade their 1st rd pick: "That's not how I operate." (via @ESPNLA710)

— Bob Garcia IV (@bgarcia90) May 6, 2016

Kupchak: "I'm superstitious enough that I'm not going to look to do something or take something for granted before we have it." (on ESPN710)

— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) May 6, 2016

Getting past the fact that Kupchak would be unlikely to admit he was trading the pick even if he had a deal in place, logic points to this being honesty from the Lakers general manager. While the Lakers have surely had discussions about what they would do with the pick if they had it, engaging other teams about a pick they don't have would be premature.

The Lakers could still very well move their pick, but if they do, news of the transaction will likely come from better sourced reporters than a national radio host or a Celtics fan.

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