3. Who will start alongside Ball in the backcourt? Choices include:
– Re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who coach Luke Walton seems to love having on the court. He is strong defensively but is an inconsistent shooter. KCP’s agent has indicated that he desires a max contract (based on his years in the league). How much of their cap money do the Lakers want to spend on KCP?
-Moving Jordan Clarkson, who is having a strong offensive season, into the starting lineup. Clarkson has excellent scoring ability, but sometimes spends too much time dribbling the ball and doesn’t move it around enough, which is Walton’s preferred style of play.
-Keeping Clarkson in the 6th man role, at which he has excelled, or perhaps trading him, and instead elevating rookie Jason Hart. Hart has steadily improved all season, and is an outstanding defender with developing offensive skills. The question is, how effective will he be as a full-time starter?
-Attempting to sign a premier free agent forward, such as Paul George or LeBron James, to start together with forwards Ingram and Kuzma. A move like this has long been rumored, and seems to appeal to most fans. But it carries uncertainty and risk.
How well would either George or James mesh with Ingram and Kuzma? How feasible is it to start three 6-9 players alongside Ball and a center? Even in the new so-called “position-less” NBA, can any one of them hold his own defensively against a smaller, quicker backcourt opponent night in and night out? If not, one of the three (likely Kuzma) would have to come off the bench. Is that best for the team? This angle must at least be considered before big money is handed out.
-Pursue a less costly free agent. Once again, there will always be other available choices in the market, for better or worse.
Beyond these questions, there is the matter of what to do about Luol Deng and his big contract. There has been ceaseless chatter all season about trying to trade him by packaging him with Randle or Clarkson. But it is much more likely that Pelinka, a salary cap expert, will determine the best way to buy out the last two-plus years of Deng’s contract. Then the dollars can be spread out over a longer period of time.
Every Lakers fan wants the team to return to its winning ways, the sooner the better. However, management must take the long view into consideration, especially since they seem to have a Big 3 in place.
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Do they gamble on signing a big free agent or two, as Kupchak tried to do? Do they pay the going rate to retain players such as Randle, a possible future star, Lopez and/or KCP? Or do they fill in roster holes the best they can and wait for their Big 3 to lead the way?
There are no guarantees which approach will work best. But how the front office responds to the team’s three most important questions will go a long way towards determining the Lakers fate.