It's easy to view Pelinka's first trade and biggest move to date in a purely analytical sense.

After all, trading for cap flexibility is about as hard core as it comes.

So it's illuminating to understand all the facets of humanity that went into the Lakers' June trade of D'Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov for Brook Lopez and the draft pick that became Kyle Kuzma.

How did the trade come to be? Only through real human interaction in this era of shortcut communication.

Pelinka actually met with Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks in person three times over the course of the off-season deal-building process.

"I enjoy that human interaction," Pelinka said. "I think that was a key component for this to come together.

"You have to have a consistent thread in your relationship building in life. Of course I dealt with Sean when I was a player representative and he was in the front office both in San Antonio and Brooklyn. I had a really good rapport with him. Both he and I value human interactions. It can't just be a text; it can't just be a phone call."

For taking on Mozgov's contract, Marks got the considerable upside of Russell's potential, and Pelinka saw it as a nice byproduct that the Lakers were setting Russell up in a good situation.

"The overwhelming driving force behind any trade is 100 percent what's best for the Lakers," Pelinka said. "But we're all human. There is a human element through every decision that's made in life.

Magic and I, with this one, were particularly happy D'Angelo was getting traded to a great franchise in the Brooklyn Nets in a big market with a great opportunity for him to lead the team.

"It is an example of a trade that really, really was a win-win. At least the human side of it, you feel good about it. That's not always the case."

The overwhelming driving force behind any trade is 100 percent what's best for the Lakers. But we're all human. There is a human element through every decision that's made in life. Rob Pelinka

Pelinka was thinking of accommodating far more people than just Russell, obviously.

The deal got done two days before the NBA draft, with the Lakers having zeroed in on point guard Lonzo Ball and cognizant of positional duplication with Ball and Russell.

"As the picture started to become clearer closer to the draft," Pelinka said, "you take that into account."

Pelinka was also considering Ball's and Brandon Ingram's feelings in acquiring Lopez, a floor-spreading center with such shooting ability that he hit three of four three-point attempts in the first seven minutes of the victory Sunday against New York. Pelinka wanted to give Luke Walton's offense more open lanes to maximize Ball and Ingram.

Those were extra boxes the Lakers could check beyond meeting Johnson's mandated vision for more youth-oriented assets and future cap flexibility. With the No. 27 overall pick coming from Brooklyn, the Lakers would flip their No. 28 overall pick for Nos. 30 (Josh Hart) and 42 (Thomas Bryant).

But the casual fan might not understand Pelinka is no rookie in the trade game. Agents often are the lead brokers on trades behind the scenes, trying to serve many puppet masters besides their clients.

"I've been involved in many, many trades," Pelinka acknowledged.

He will also acknowledge that researching trade scenarios is among the more fun aspects of both his former job and current job—particularly given how his mind works.

"My favorite class in high school was my AP [Advanced Placement] Calculus class; I love solving problems," Pelinka said. "This is like putting together a complicated puzzle. It is; it's fun. The misnomer is that people and fans may think a general manager spends 95 percent of his time thinking through trades, but you don't get to do that all day long."