The NBA trade deadline saw an incredible finish earlier today as eleven trades went down. The moves came in all kinds of variations as contenders, pretenders, and teams in rebuild mode played their hands in what has proven to be a spectacular finish as teams try to sort themselves out as much as they can before the summer.
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The Los Angeles Lakers were a team looking from the outside in as they made no changes to the current lineup. Understandably so as they have afforded themselves financial flexibility for the upcoming free agent class, while also having a solid chance at multiple draft picks. According to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, Byron Scott talked about the future of the franchise:
Byron on Lakers' future: "We still need pieces at every position…Not going to be able to solve that problem in one year or one summer."
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) February 19, 2015
The Lakers are looking for upgrades at every position after what will surely be two straight seasons of missing the playoffs. The Lakers will have a good chance of keeping their top-five pick that Phoenix traded to Philadelphia, and have the late first round selection obtained in the Jeremy Lin trade from the Houston Rockets.
With multiple assets in the draft and the space to sign free agents, the Lakers front office is looking forward to a very busy summer in which the team can make the push to be among the NBA’s elite once again.
In the meantime, the purple and gold will be back in action against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night after a nine day All-Star break.
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