Rob Pelinka says Lakers need ‘continued work’ ahead of trade deadline

The Lakers’ roster needs work ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, which Rob Pelinka is well aware of.

For as much as the Luka Dončić trade has dominated the headlines for the Lakers, he is joining an incomplete roster with the Lakers.

The nature of trading a center for a point guard means that LA now has an imbalanced roster just days before the deadline. It’s no secret to anyone, including vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka.

At Tuesday’s intro press conference for Dončić, Pelinka discussed what is yet to come for the Lakers and acknowledged that they still need to make moves before Thursday’s deadline.

“We know that our roster has continued work to do to become complete,” Pelinka said. “We know that we have a need for a big. The market for bigs right now leading into the last two or three days of the trade deadline is very dry. There’s just not a lot available. So, maybe we’ll be able to do some stuff around the margins.

“I would say in terms of a big move for that position, it’s probably more realistic that that would be something that comes in the offseason.”

The Lakers have been scouring the market for centers for quite some time now even before the Luka trade. While the type of center they’re looking for might have changed, the need for one hasn’t.

Pelinka’s quote on Tuesday backed up the reporting that the Lakers weren’t all that interested in the centers available on the market. In fact, Pelinka was quite frank about what was, or wasn’t, available in trades.

“If there’s not a championship big on the market right now, I can’t wave a wand and create that opportunity,” Pelinka said. “We’ll continue to work and look for areas we can complete and fill out the roster but, as we saw with this trade, it takes two teams. But we’ll continue to build.”

The problem is that the centers that could have appealed to the Lakers before the trade like Jonas Valančiūnas and Nikola Vučević don’t make sense anymore. Offensive-minded bigs do nothing for a Lakers team that needs ample amounts of defense.

On Tuesday, Pelinka talked about the attributes the Lakers will be looking for in centers now moving forward.

“Versatility, mobility, a vertical lob threat,” Pelinka said. “I think that’s a key to the spacing Luka likes to play with. Competitive. I think those are some of the core things there. Those players are hard to find but we’ll accomplish the task that’s before us. We’ll find a way.”

How determined the Lakers are to find a way before the trade deadline rather than this summer, though, will remain to be seen.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.