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The Lakers were knocked out in five games by the Timberwolves on Wednesday, and Brian Windhorst sees parallels between their current situation and the Mavericks' struggles after the 2022-2023 season. According to Windhorst, while the Lakers' future may seem uncertain now, their issues could be resolved by adding athletic, big rim protectors—similar to how the Mavericks approached their rebuild two years ago when they missed the playoffs after acquiring Kyrie Irving.
“What I would say about the Lakers is where they’re at right now, is it’s comparable, not the same, but it’s comparable to where the Mavericks were two years ago,” Windhorst said on the latest episode of The Hoop Collective. Mavericks trade for Kyrie, there is a bit of a roster debit because of what they traded for Kyrie. They tanked down the stretch. They got fined, how much did they get fined for that?”
“I think it was $750,000, it was high six figures,” Tim McMahon replied.
Windhorst adds, “They get fined for tanking but they end up with Dereck Lively.”
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The draft pick for Dereck Lively is important, as Dallas was in the NBA Finals the following season. Lively gave the Mavericks the vertical lob-threat and rim protector that the Mavericks and thrived with Luka Doncic. Windhorst believes that the Lakers can find themselves on the same path but the Lakers have far different assets that they're working with. The Lakers have no draft picks this year, but have tradeable assets like last year’s rookie Dalton Knecht and future pick swaps.
“None of those guys are stars. The Lakers don’t have their pick this year, it goes to the Atlanta Hawks. So they’re not going to be able to get something in the draft, but they have the first round pick in 2031 or 2032, which they traded for Mark Williams and than rescinded and pulled back. They have four different swaps, I’d be surprised if they traded all of them, but they have four swaps they can trade. I don’t know what Dalton Knecht’s value is but he had value, they traded him for Mark Williams, but okay Dalton Knecht.”
It will be a tall task for Rob Pelinka to build a revamped Lakers roster this offseason but he will have to maximize the prime of Luka Doncic in a Western Conference that will certainly be even more competitive in the next few seasons.
