During the 2019 offseason, Los Angeles Lakers fans are going to focus on which superstar the Purple and Gold will sign, but LA also needs to fill out the roster with high-quality role players.
The Los Angeles Lakers have around $40 million to spend this offseason and if the Purple and Gold manage to lure a max free agent to La La land it will cost approximately $30 million per season, leaving Rob Pelinka approximately $10 million to fill out the rest of the team.
There are four factors which make it clear that the biggest holes in the Lakers roster are at the center and power forward position:
- The Lakers current roster of- LeBron James (SF), Lonzo Ball (PG), Brandon Ingram (SF/ SG), Kyle Kuzma (PF), Josh Hart (SG), Moritz Wagner (C), and Isaac Bonga (PG)- doesn’t feature a viable center or a backup power forward.
- Alex Caruso exploded during the last two months of the 2018-2019 season, leading most experts to believe the Lakers will resign him to play backup point guard.
- The Lakers own the No. 4 pick in the draft and the two most likely players that the Lakers will select is small forward De’Andre Hunter or shooting guard Jarrett Culver.
- Every max free agent that’s been linked with the Lakers over the last month (Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leanord, and Jimmy Butler) plays either point guard or small forward.
The Lakers must sign a starting 5, a backup 5, and a backup power forward during the offseason and they’ll likely have little money to do so.
Here are Los Angeles’s best choices.