LOS ANGELES — Viewers tuning into the online livestream of the National Women’s Soccer League draft Thursday could be forgiven for thinking their feed was caught in a perpetual loop, as it endlessly repeated, “The Boston Breakers are on the clock.”

It only seemed that way. What viewers were watching was a roster-rebuilding strategy with few precedents. A series of off-season trades and roster moves had set up the Breakers with the most picks of any of the league’s teams: five of the first 11 selections, and seven over all.

The result was the spectacle of a rebuilding team — one that has struggled on the field and in its efforts to recruit top American stars — remaking its roster in real time, one fresh new face at a time. But it was also a show of confidence, Breakers officials said, that the five-year-old league was finally established enough for Thursday’s play to pay dividends.

“Previously, it’s really been about the here and now,” said Lee Billiard, the Breakers’ president for soccer operations and development. “And last year, it started to be about the picks today, and what they’ll mean for next year. It wasn’t, until last year, about longevity.”