Report: Los Angeles Lakers fail to sign any player because of unrealistic ‘Lakers tax’ demands

Los Angeles Lakers had a rather interesting end to their transfer window where they did not sign any players.

The mid-season transfer window came to an end on Thursday where teams finalised their contingent for the remainder of the season.

Lakers were heavily linked with a move for a lot of players including the likes of Dejounte Murray of the Atlanta Hawks, Alex Caruso, Andre Drummond, Dorian Finney-Smith, Bruce Brown Jr. and Tyus Jones.

However, surprisingly, none of those deals were completed in time, much to the surprise of fans and pundits as well. According to a media report, that might have been down to the ‘Lakers tax’.

The term has been used to describe how franchises make some unrealistic demands from Lakers while trading with them knowing their strong financial performance and strong roaster as well.

Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to see Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka state that the decision to not sign anyone was taken keeping in view the ‘long-term’ objectives.

"We tried everything we could, and again, the market is the market," he. "There were very, very few sellers. I don't think today on the deadline day there were many marquee players moved.

"There were a lot of buyers, and as everyone knows, when the market has few sellers and tons of buyers, the prices are very, very aggressive. And sometimes no move is better than an unwise move."