Magic Johnson wasn't just talking himself up.
Right now, the Lakers were anything but short on young talent.
After Kobe's retirement, the franchise had gone all-in on tanking. Two years of bottoming out had left them with a sizable collection of high-quality prospects.
And for a Pelicans team preparing to trade away Davis and start tanking themselves, those young players were exactly the kind of assets they wanted most.
"First of all!"
Trajano spoke bluntly.
"I want both of those young guys you've got—Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram. Then I want at least five first-round picks, including swap rights."
"Five?!"
Hearing Trajano's demand, even Magic Johnson—who was used to high-stakes negotiations—couldn't help blurting it out.
"You've got to be kidding me! This is outright robbery!"
Magic dropped all pretense, fixing Trajano with a hostile stare.
"I don't see any sincerity here at all. What team would give up two top young prospects plus five picks just to trade for one star?"
"Who knows?"
Trajano let out a cold laugh.
"Portland has already made it clear—aside from Lillard, anyone on their roster is available if we ask, no counteroffers. They can even throw in a few more first-rounders."
"What does Portland even have? What do they have at all?!"
Magic snapped impatiently.
"You're a veteran in this league. You know their situation as well as I do. Other than Lillard, maybe Mitchell is worth a look. The rest are all scraps. What's the point of trading for a pile of junk?"
After thinking for a moment, Magic continued.
"Anyway, five first-rounders is absolutely impossible. Besides Ball and Ingram, I've got other players. See if anything else interests you."
"Oh right—what about Spellman, the guy we just drafted this year? Villanova product, quality guaranteed. And Josh Hart, another Villanova tough guy. No risk, no regret."
At this moment, Magic's mind was racing.
The reason he was so anxious to lock in the Davis trade was simple: that piece of news wouldn't stay hidden for much longer.
On the very first day after the Finals ended, Magic had already reached out to LeBron's camp.
LeBron was very willing to come to the Lakers—so much so that he was even open to signing a long-term deal.
That single message reignited Magic's hopes for the franchise's seventeenth championship.
LeBron plus Brow, surrounded by solid role players—wasn't that a ready-made title contender?
That was why Magic needed to move fast, before the news spread, and get Brow to Los Angeles as soon as possible.
"Those two little wildcats?"
Trajano smacked his lips, thinking it over.
"They're fine, but if I remember correctly, both were picked 30th in the first round. They're not worth much. If you're serious, add Kuzma."
"You're really trying to drain everything I've built over the years,"
Magic said with a bitter smile.
"Kuzma is off the table. He's untouchable."
"I'm already giving you Ball and Ingram. Kuzma's the last one I've got left. At least leave me something to remember."
The two went back and forth for a long time, but still couldn't reach any agreement.
Seeing that it was getting late, they had no choice but to stop and agree to continue the talks the next day.
As Trajano hung up the phone, Magic turned to his assistant, Pelinka, and sighed.
"This is tough."
"Trajano's hoarding leverage now. He knows we're dead set on Brow, so he's jacking up the price like crazy."
"So what do we do?"
"What else can we do?"
Magic let out a long breath.
"There's still one more option."
As he spoke, Magic suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Go draft up a contract. We're locking down Randle first."
This year was Randle's contract year—his rookie deal was expiring.
As the de facto leader of the Lakers' young core, Randle had always been ambitious, wanting to become the face of the franchise.
But once LeBron arrived, there was no way Randle could stay.
In the original timeline, after the Lakers signed LeBron, Randle left for the Pelicans outright, giving the Lakers nothing in return.
Now, Magic wanted to play the timing game—sign Randle first and hold onto his contract. Whether to keep him or use him as trade bait later would be entirely up to Magic.
"Understood. I'll take care of it right away!"
...
...
"Are we pushing a little too hard?"
Over in New Orleans, Alvin Gentry asked with some uncertainty.
"Not at all. If anything, this is the perfect amount of pressure."
Trajano stared at the darkened screen.
"If this were someone like Buford or Chen Yilun, I wouldn't have played it that way. But since it's Magic Johnson, this approach is just right."
"What's the difference?"
Gentry frowned, clearly confused.
"Aren't they all general managers? What's so different about them?"
Seeing Gentry's confusion, Trajano explained.
"Different GMs have very different styles."
"Take Chen Yilun, for example. Since he was trained under Buford, both his team-building philosophy and the contracts he hands out naturally carry that Spurs-style feel."
"Within reasonable limits, Spurs-style GMs prefer squeezing value out of star contracts. If the franchise player can't be squeezed, they'll work on the second or third option instead."
Trajano gestured as he spoke.
"The classic examples are Parker and Ginobili—neither ever got a massive contract. Look at Jokic on the Kings now, same thing: a bargain deal."
"After compressing star contracts, they free up enough cap space to sign higher-quality role players. That's why teams run by Spurs-style GMs often have contracts that decrease step by step."
"But the Lakers are different. Lakers-style GMs love betting on stars. They're willing to dump most of their cap space into superstars, leaving very little for role players."
"That's why Lakers rosters usually have two or three massive contracts, with the rest filled out by small deals."
As Trajano broke it down piece by piece, Gentry finally understood why Trajano had pressured Magic so hard earlier.
"Huh?"
Mid-conversation, Trajano looked around.
"Why is it just you here today? Where's Bryson?"
The Bryson Trajano referred to was his trusted right-hand man: Bryson Graham.
Graham had previously served as the team's Director of Player Development and Director of Scouting. After Blackstone was poached by Chen Yilun, Graham was promoted to Pelicans Assistant General Manager.
"Him?"
Gentry looked a little awkward.
"He took the day off. I don't know where he went."
As they spoke, Trajano's phone suddenly lit up.
"What now?"
Trajano picked it up and glanced at the unread message. In an instant, his face flushed red with rage.
"Chen Yilun! I'll never let this go!"