The best option available: The Lakers draft De’Andre Hunter, keep the core intact and fill out the roster with high-quality role players on 3-year contracts
Last season, before the injuries started piling up, the Lakers were 20-14. The Purple and Gold built that record behind the play of LeBron James, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and Tyson Chandler.
The only player on that list who’s not under contract for the foreseeable future is Tyson Chandler, who can be easily replaced in free agency.
The core of James, Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, and Hart managed to go six games over .500 with almost no help from the other players on the team.
The Lakers played their basketball of the 2018-2019 season during the months of November and December.
Here’s how “Team Meme (plus KCP)” did during November:
- Michael Beasley: -13.8 net rating
- JaVale McGee: -12.1 net rating
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: -6.1 net rating
- Lance Stephenson: -6.0 net rating
- Rajon Rondo: +10.5 net rating
Here’s how they did in December:
- Michael Beasley: +1.0 net rating
- JaVale McGee: +1.1 net rating
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: -1.1 net rating
- Lance Stephenson: -10.6 net rating
- Rajon Rondo: + 4.7 net rating
Rajon Rondo was the only player on the lists above who had an overall positive impact for the Lakers during November and December, but he only managed to play in nine total games during that span because of two separate injuries.
Imagine what LeBron and the young core could do if they had high-quality role players to play with.
If the Lakers don’t sign a max free agent over the summer, they should try to sign these players to 3-year contracts:
- Dewayne Dedmon: center, 2018 salary $7 million, 38 3P%, 109 DEFRTG
- Nerlens Noel: center, 2018 salary $1.5 million, no 3-pointers taken, 99 DEFRTG
- Bojan Bogdanovic: small forward, 2018 salary $10.5 million, 43 3P%, 110 DEFRTG
- Nikola Mirotic: power forward, 2018 salary $7.5 million, 37 3P%, 105 DEFRTG
- Seth Curry: shooting guard, 2018 salary $2.75 million, 45 3P%, 114 DEFRTG
The five players listed above aren’t perfect.
Dewayne Dedmon and Nikola Mirotic are slow footed, but both players can light it up from deep. Nerlens Noel doesn’t spread the floor, but he was one the best defensive centers in the league last year.
Bojan Bogdanovic doesn’t have quick enough feet to stay in front of smaller players on the perimeter, but he works hard on the less glamorous side of the ball and he’s a deadly 3-point shooter. Finally, Seth Curry is too small to be a good defensive guard, but he plays at 100% every time he gets on the floor and is a long distance assassin.
These players are light years ahead of KCP, Rajon Rondo, and company. All five of them play hard, they all have playoff experience, they all know their roles on the court, and with the exception of Noel, they’re all very good 3-point shooters.
If the Lakers signed these five players, the roster would look like this next year:
Starters:
- Lonzo Ball
- Brandon Ingram
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- LeBron James
- Dewayne Dedmon
Bench:
- Alex Caruso
- Seth Curry
- Josh Hart
- De’Andre Hunter
- Kyle Kuzma
- Nikola Mirotic
- Nerlens Noel
That’s an incredibly deep team capable of competing with any other squad in the league.
Plus, if LeBron James comes back next season with a chip on his shoulder, the young core shows good development, and the injury bug gives the Lakers a break, the Purple and Gold could find themselves in the final four of next year’s playoffs.