Los Angeles Lakers: Five reasons to go after Klay Thompson this summer
By Ethan Temkin
After landing the best player in the world in LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers now have to set their sights on surrounding him with max-level talent.
The Los Angeles Lakers will be looking to upgrade their roster this summer with some money to spend. Luckily for them, there will be no shortage of difference makers available.
The 2019 free agent class is shaping up to be one of the most stacked classes in recent memory, with top-tier players such as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Kawhi Leonard on the market. Since Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka were brought in during the summer of 2017, they’ve had grand designs of landing “max-level” free agents, and so far, that vision has come true when they landed LeBron James last summer.
However, the next step for this Lakers’ front office of pairing LeBron James with another max-player has proven less successful. They were unable to sign Paul George this past offseason, or make a trade happen for Kawhi Leonard, and more recently, Anthony Davis.
However, with their sights set on 2019 free agency, one name that has been consistently brought up as a potential free-agent target for the Lakers, is Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson.
Although Klay might not be a “max-level” player in the same vein as Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, or Anthony Davis, he’s arguably a better fit next to LeBron James than any of them and on top of that, may very well prove to be the most ‘getable’ out of all of them.
With an ability to shoot the ball at an elite level, as well as defend the opposing team’s best wing player on a nightly basis, Klay Thompson could be a perfect compliment to a LeBron-centric team.
Here are five reasons why the Lakers should be aggressive in trying to acquire Klay Thompson this upcoming offseason.