We take a look around the NBA at how some former Los Angeles Lakers are faring elsewhere.
Only two current players on the Los Angeles Lakers, Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubac, were on the team when Magic Johnson was hired in Feb. 2017 to take over as president of basketball operations, replacing Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss. Several other players added later were only on the roster for a relatively short time.
Most of the deals engineered by Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka were concerned with receiving draft picks and clearing salary room more so than with acquiring quality players in return.
The front office had dreams of making a big splash in free agency after building a young core. Therefore, in many instances, it is tough to accurately gauge how well the moves have turned out yet. It will take time for that to become more clear. The process began paying off with LeBron James signing this past summer, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
Of the 15 players currently on the Lakers roster, only eight are signed for next year: Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, James, Kyle Kuzma and rookies Isaac Bonga, Svi Mykhailiuk and Moritz Wagner.
Seven will be free agents unless any are re-signed prior to July: Michael Beasley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Tyson Chandler, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and Zubac.
It will be very interesting to see what roster moves Magic makes once this season ends. Who else could join the list of former Lakers? We will have to wait and see!
Until then, let us take a look at how some of the more prominent former Lakers are faring now.
All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com and through the first 23 games.