Lakers News: Rob Pelinka, Anthony Davis Discuss LA's Offseason Trades

Lost in all of the excitement of the Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers and the potential of his pairing with LeBron James is the fact that it all came down to Rob Pelinka's determination and a little bit of luck.

As ESPN's Dave McMenamin detailed in a wide-ranging article on the events surrounding the trade, the luck part took the form of the New Orleans Pelicans landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft.

In Zion Williamson, the Pelicans could envision a new future without Davis, clearing the way to honor his trade demands for the best package.

The Lakers had the best position in the talks, but that was just the first step.

"Literally the day that the trade happened, there were a couple points I was convinced that there would be no further conversations," Pelinka told McMenamin.

Pelinka's drive to get the deal done, it turns out, originated from his feeling that he "owed it" to James.

But after sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks (including the No. 4 overall) to New Orleans, the deal was still in a bit of purgatory.

"Major NBA trades live on the edge of a dime," Pelinka also told McMenamin. "I think maybe the everyday fan doesn't know how the fulcrum is so razor-thin, and something's close to being done and then it's far from being done and then you think you have it done and you start over."

The Lakers needed the Pelicans to wait until July 30 to complete the trade so they could have a potential $32.5 million in cap space to pursue another max player.

To get fully there, L.A. had to send Isaac Bonga, Jemerrio Jones, Moritz Wagner and a 2022 second-round pick to the Washington Wizards in a reworked trade with New Orleans.

Additionally, the Wizards sent $1.1 million to the Pels.

Even with all of that, the Lakers also needed Davis to waive his $4 million trade kicker, which he eventually did.

Once L.A. got to the point where they had the max slot, it was time to focus on a third star: Kawhi Leonard.

For their part, Pelinka and the Lakers were all in on Leonard to create their own Big Three in the City of Angels.

"I think it [has] always been about the Big Three," Davis told McMenamin. "We were talking like, 'Man, we get Kawhi, man, this is what we can do. We can do it like this, this, this, this.'"

Now fully invested, Davis even made a call to Leonard at the beginning of free agency to try to woo him for the Purple and Gold.

But wooing Leonard wasn't an exact science, as Davis related to McMenamin:

"I don't really know Kawhi like that. I don't think no one really knows Kawhi like that. But obviously we were hopeful. I definitely thought that it was a possibility that we could get him. I'm not going to be a haggling guy. Especially when he came and said he didn't really like the media [attention] and people pressuring him.

"But I think there was a time where all of us felt like we were really, really close to getting Kawhi."

L.A. believed so much in their chances of landing Leonard that they waited and waited and waited until most of the big players on the market were off the board.

Then the reigning Finals MVP actually chose Los Angeles.

Just not the Lakers.

With Leonard headed to the Clippers, Pelinka had to refocus on surrounding Davis and James with complementary players.

And for the first time in his career, Davis found himself thoroughly involved in the process.

It was all part of Pelinka's idea to treat "superstars like partners."

"Every single decision," Davis told McMenamin. "I [have] never been involved so much. No matter who the player was, he wanted to make sure. It was on everything. And it was like, 'Wow.' To the point where I was like, 'All right, Rob, stop calling me.'"

Pelinka must have gotten the blessings he wanted from Davis on all the signings he made, because Davis and James have bought in and are ready to lead all players in the quest to help the Lakers reclaim the throne as championship contenders.

"Obviously it starts and ends with me and AD, and how we approach the game on and off the floor will trickle to everybody else," James told Joey Ramirez of NBA.com. "We need everyone out on the floor to buy into what Coach Vogel and the coaching staff wants us to do. And then it's up to us to lead that and second-command that."

In his preseason debut, Davis scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in just 18 minutes of action to help L.A. to a 123-101 rout of the Golden State Warriors.

Davis' play all but validated all of the Lakers' efforts to trade for him and gave fans a glimpse of what's to come with the Davis-James connection, which included a pass from the latter to the former off the pick-and-roll for a dunk.

"That's tough to cover," Davis told Ramirez. "You got a guy like him going downhill and a guy like me who's rolling who's a lob threat—you've got to pick your poison."

Follow Maurice Bobb on Twitter, @ReeseReport.

Statistics obtained from NBA.com.