In a typical offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers would be basically done with business by now.
Since last playing a basketball game way back in April, the Lakers hired Darvin Ham, revamped the coaching staff, added five free agents and three rookies, and picked up a few player options. They necessarily got younger across the board.
This week, they traded Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson for Patrick Beverley — a Westbrook enemy.
Most importantly, they secured LeBron James for at least two more seasons.
So, with about a month until training camp, the team has filled 13 of 15 active roster spots (not counting two-way contracts), and will likely leave the final spot open for future flexibility. As it stands, here's who will be at Lakers camp:
- LeBron James
- Anthony Davis
- Russell Westbrook
- Patrick Beverley
- Kendrick Nunn
- Lonnie Walker IV
- Austin Reaves
- Troy Brown Jr.
- Thomas Bryant
- Damian Jones
- Juan Toscano-Anderson
- Wenyen Gabriel
- Max Christie
- Scotty Pippen Jr. (two-way)
- Cole Swider (two-way)
- Fabian White Jr. (Exhibit-10)
- Jay Huff (Exhibit-10)
- Javante McCoy (Exhibit-10)
And yet! The summer drama is far from over in Hollywood (and I'm not talking about the ongoing Hulu docuseries). As I see it, there are three major items remaining on the Lakers' summer to-do list.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2IGnBKIS4qqxcc2NApVLgG?si=9b4552e80b9b473b
3 Things the Lakers Still Need To Do
1) Part with Russell Westbrook
The Lakers need to move on from Westbrook. Expecting one of the most stubborn and prideful stars in NBA history to suddenly reimagine his game while still on a max contract is as delusional as Russ sounded in his exit interview press conference — when he blamed everybody but himself for his underwhelming season, which he only classified as a failure because he didn't average a triple-double. If he doesn't magically evolve into a gritty defender, corner-3 specialist, and active off-ball player — as Ham claims to envision — then a 34-year-old Russell Westbrook and this Lakers squad is a losing combination, regardless of his glittering resumé.
With Kyrie Irving off the table (for now), the Lakers will focus elsewhere. Should they spend both future first-round picks (2027, 2019) for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield? Maybe so. LeBron signed the extension with assurances of organizational aggressiveness. Turner and Hield are under-30 high-level starters who, on paper, slot in seamlessly around LeBron and AD. The Lakers need to improve their spacing and frontcourt versatility, and they need more defensive talent. Hield is one of the premier shooters in hoops, while Turner, a rim-protecting stretch-5, would form a potent big-man combo with Davis.
Turner and Buddy may not vault the Lakers into title contention — only Kyrie would. However, they would give the Lakers a realistic chance of keeping up with a stacked Western Conference. Can Pelinka convince the Indiana Pacers to accept Nunn, or a pick-swap or highly-protected future first instead of two outright firsts?
There are other hard-to-hypothesize multi-team transactions that could move Russ to his fifth team in five years over the course of a five-year supermax. They can continue working with the rebuilding Utah Jazz, who may be more inclined to take on (and buyout) Russ' expiring deal and possess a slew of veteran role players.
There are machinations of this trade in which the Lakers send out Russ, Nunn, and both firsts, and either help the New York Knicks facilitate a Donovan Mitchell trade, or further entice the Pacers to strike a deal. For instance, the Lakers could send Russ and a first to Utah and a first to Indiana, and recoup a combination of Turner, Hield, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley Jr., and/or Malik Beasley.
Alternatively, the Lakers could dump Westbrook to the San Antonio Spurs for Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson, though they wouldn't surrender both firsts to do so, and McDermott's contract is undesirable.
If nothing emerges, the Lakers should simply send Russ home — before training camp. He doesn't seem to want to be there, LeBron doesn't seem to want him there, and his presence at media day would get ugly. His absence is addition by subtraction.
Conveniently, it seems as though Beverely's arrival has all but assured that Russ has played his final game in purple-and-gold.
2) Acquire shooting
The Lakers were a bottom-tier outside shooting squad in 2021-22 and lost their three best perimeter shooters: Malik Monk, Carmelo Anthony, and Wayne Ellington (career-wise).
Of the incumbents, LeBron posted the highest three-point percentage (35.9%) last season. Of their free agent signings, Toscano-Anderson has the highest career three-point percentage (36.1% on low volume). Walker IV and Brown Jr. are coming off cold campaigns. Nunn, who missed all of last season, had the highest career three-point percentage on the team — a league average 36.4% — prior to the acquisition of Beverley (37.8%).
The two most reliable shooters on the roster are probably Beverley (38% on catch-and-shoot looks in 2021-22) and Swider, who will spend much of his season in the G-League.
Swapping two non-snipers (THT, Stanley) for Pat Bev is a step in the right direction. But even if you squint your squintiest and make out some avenues to improvement — Beverley's presence, a Reaves uptick, the return of Nunn, bounce-back years from Walker IV and Brown Jr. (both of whom have posted seasons above 36% on catch-and-shoot 3s), the stretch-5 nature of Bryant, LeBron's passing, AD's gravity — it's hard to see an above-average floor spacing team, as currently constructed.
The Lakers can tack on at least one more free agent at some point, but their best bet to recoup shooters is via a Russ/Nunn/picks trade. Perhaps Hield (Pelinka's ex-client) and/or Turner, Eric Gordon, or the aforementioned Jazz guys.
3) Get bigger on the wing
As with the shooting issues, the Lakers did not address a glaring hole from last year: size on the wing. If you'll recall, the team had (misguidedly) slotted 36-year-old Trevor Ariza into a starting spot and expected him to fill the “large wing” role, only for Ariza to undergo early-season ankle surgery and struggle upon returning (he was waived in April).
The Lakers need more 3-and-D, two-way role players. Beverley checks that box, but he's a point guard, and they dealt one of their few large-ish wings (the 6'7 Johnson) to get him.
LeBron, in his 20th season, can't be expected to lock in defensively all year. Controversially, they used their prized mid-level exception on Walker IV, who can aptly replicate the production and skillset of Monk, but, at 6'4, doesn't offer size or sturdy, versatile defense. Toscano-Anderson can ably guard 1-through-4 at a long, feisty 6'6, but his offensive limitations (creative passing aside) often kept him out of the Warriors' rotation.
Once again, the front office will have to get creative and use any remaining assets from a Russ trade — picks/swaps, Nunn, etc — to polish the depth chart. Some of these moves may have to wait until midseason, when recent free agent signings are eligible to be moved.
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