At the press conference introducing the newly acquired Rui Hachimura on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles Lakers general manager and vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka reemphasized that he isn't necessarily done dealing ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline, and that the Lakers would only part with their two tradable first-round picks (2027, 2029) in exchange for a package that places them into immediate championship contention.

“I think the calculus for the Lakers is to win a championship or not,” Pelinka said ahead of his team's matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers. “There's no in-between or incremental growth. So, as we analyze opportunities, we have to do it through that lens. And — I said this at the beginning of the season — if there's an opportunity to get all the way to the end and win a championship, there's no resource we'll hold onto if we feel like that's there.”

Pelinka is referring to his unprompted monologue at media day, in which he steadfastly declared that the Lakers owe it to LeBron James — who had just signed a two-year extension — to aggressively trade picks for upgrades in the present.

That said, Pelinka stressed Tuesday that the Lakers won't part with future assets simply for the sake of doing so.

“The completely unwise thing to do would be to shoot a bullet early and then not have it later when you have a better championship move to make,” he said. “So that's a really delicate calculus. It's something that the entire front office — we evaluate with all of the moves.

“If we see a move that puts us as a frontrunner to get another championship — the 18th one here — we'll make it. And if that move doesn't present itself, we'll be smart and make it at a later time.”

The Lakers can theoretically package their two picks, a combination of Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV, minimum-salary players, and second-rounders to acquire a third star, such as DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Bradley Beal, Fred VanVleet, or Damian Lillard. Alternatively, they can strike a smaller deal to add high-quality role pieces, such as Bojan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield, Eric Gordon, Jae Crowder, Gary Harris, Cam Reddish, Terrence Ross, Terry Rozier, Josh Richardson, etc.

“Doesn’t mean our work’s finished,” Pelinka said about adding Rui.

If the Lakers stand pat, they'll hit the summer with a third first-round pick eligible to trade (2030) and about $30 million in cap space to work with, though a majority of that money may end up going to re-signing Hachimura and Austin Reaves.

The Lakers entered Tuesday at 22-25, 2.5 games out of the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. They're expecting Anthony Davis, Walker IV, and Reaves to return in the coming days.