People around NBA think Lakers front office has been told not to trade their picks

To say the Lakers have some hesitancy in trading out their draft picks would certainly be a fair assessment, likely even an understatement. The team has practiced patience that has occasionally crossed over into outright refusal to part with the picks in any trade, regardless of the team’s situation this year.

Their hesitancy has reached a point in which some are questioning if they’re really practicing patience or are under a different edict. On the latest episode of The Crossover with Chris Mannix and Howard Beck, the latter mentioned some discussions with those around the league

”They obviously are not willing to trade the picks. And I’ve heard rumblings — and they’re only rumblings, so I don’t want people to go too far with this or go crazy with the aggregation — but a couple people around the league have told me in recent weeks that they believe that the front office has essentially been told not to trade the picks. That they’re guarding those.”

It’s important to reiterate Beck’s point that this isn’t reporting from inside the Lakers, but how teams are perceiving them. And to be honest, it’s a fair assumption.

If the team sat and watched Anthony Davis play at an MVP level, watched him go down, watched LeBron James openly plea for help and still sat and did nothing as things stand, then maybe they really aren’t serious about trading the picks. They certainly aren’t in ANY rush to do anything to help this current roster.

And if you are on the outside looking in, as fans and other NBA teams are, it looks like a team that could have been told to not trade the picks from someone like Jeanie Buss. At best, based on all the reports indicating as much, it’s a front office that won’t deal the picks unless it’s for an All-Star player.

Considering none are available, and the Lakers potential trade package almost certainly won’t be enough if one does become available, it’s really a fruitless hope. Regardless of whether the Lakers have an edict to not trade the picks or not, they’ve proven so far they aren’t serious about moving them and not much indicates that’s going to change.

Call it not being allowed to trade them. Call it hesitancy. Call it patience. Call it whatever you want. But what it is above all that is frustrating.

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