GM Mitch Kupchak says Los Angeles Lakers are working on big trades – NBA Update
The Los Angeles Lakers are working on one or few headline trades, their General Manager Mitch Kupchak recently revealed in an interview. The franchise is known for its high spending and swashbuckling ways in the transfer market
and Kupchak believes this year would be no different.
"We are pursuing big deals right now," said Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak on Monday. "More than one big deal."
The Lakers almost pulled out a bumper trade when they agreed terms with the New Orleans Hornets to bring super star point guard Chris Paul to Los Angeles. The trade was shot down though at the eleventh hour by NBA Commissioner
David Stern.
The NBA owns the Hornets franchise and many small market owners complained about the deal which they thought was overly favourable to the Lakers. Although the NBA initially denied that the trade was shot down at the insistence
of other owners, it was later revealed that several owners protested, including Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers who wrote an email directly to David Stern.
Kupchak said he was disappointed with what had happened but refused to discuss specifics of the deal.
"A lot of the players that were in (the vetoed trade), nobody even knows who they are," Kupchak said.
"It was completely unexpected. I'm not sure if it ever happened before. I'm not sure if it will ever happen again," Kupchak said. "I was completely surprised. We did the best we can to express our displeasure, but to date, there's
been no change."
According to reports, the Lakers had arranged for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol to be sent to New Orleans in exchange of Paul. The Hornets would then have trade Gasol to the Houston Rockets, the third side in the deal, to get centre
Luis Scola along with a few role players and a future draft pick.
Gasol and Odom are believed to have been upset at being tried to gotten rid of. In fact, both players did not train with the team on Friday after news of the failed trade became public. Odom reported to camp a full 90 minutes late
and left after meeting Kupchak.
It’s now clear that the player requested to be transferred after losing faith in the organization and has since been moved to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for an 8.9 million trade exception and a 2012 first round pick.
Kupchak insists that he wants to keep all the major players in Los Angeles and Odom was only moved because he requested a transfer.
"I could see how people look at it that way, but the fact remains it would not have taken place if (Odom) didn't ask for a trade," Kupchak said.
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