EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The trade deadline came and went, and the Lakers have the same team, four games below .500, that they were when the day began.

Trade rumors did not materialize into trades. Lakers VP and General Manager Rob Pelinka explained the teams’ mindset.

“I think every decision we make has to be contextualized by multiple factors and it can’t be just a decision about what is best for today or best for what happened right after a loss,” Pelinka said. “It has to be with the long term in mind, and the short term."

"So, we just didn’t find a deal that we felt like made sense from all of those different perspectives. And we will be aggressive if we feel like there are roster areas to address. We still have the buyout market to see what materializes there. We’ve been successful in the past. Obviously the 2020 Championship we added a player like Markieff Morris, who was influential, and we’re going to continue to look for opportunities like that with the buyout market if there’s ways to make the team better."

"And then we’re hopeful that a player like Kendrick Nunn, who was slated to be our backup point guard, who is a great, young player, we’re hopeful to get him back. Right now, that’s slated for something late in March, and hopefully that’s the case where we could get a player of his talent back and integrated into our lineup as we make our run towards the end of the season and hopefully the playoffs.”