Los Angeles Lakers need to make Bojan Bogdanovic a priority

With the Los Angeles Lakers agreeing to trade for Anthony Davis, they should make signing Bojan Bogdanovic a priority.

It might be old news right now, but after months and months of mind numbing trade talk and speculation about Anthony Davis, the Lakers finally pulled off the trade and AD is finally a Laker (sort of).

On Saturday the Lakers agreed to trade Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first round picks including the Lakers #4 pick in this Thursday’s upcoming draft for Anthony Davis. However, the deal is not official yet.

That is a lot for Anthony Davis. Personally, I do not believe that the Lakers needed to make this trade to become title contenders, but that is a rant for another day.

The point is with Anthony Davis now on the Lakers, I believe the real challenge for Rob Pelinka starts now. Basketball is not a 2-on-5 sport and while Anthony Davis and LeBron James will be a dominant duo hopefully for the next 3 years, their combined star power won’t succeed without the necessary pieces around them.

After the trade went down, the focus for a lot of people immediately turned to Kemba Walker, who can become a free agent this offseason and will be looking for a big contract.

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While I understand why people like to automatically jump to the biggest names in the free agent world, I believe that the Lakers don’t necessarily need to be big fish shopping come free agency.

Believe it or not there is a such thing as a salary cap and while the Lakers might be able to squeeze Kemba Walker into the payroll, it would likely entail Walker having to take some sort of pay cut, which I don’t believe Walker would be willing to do despite the belief of some people.

But I believe it is simple. The Lakers should make Pacers forward Bojan Bogdanovic a priority in free agency this summer.

Bogdanovic had a breakout season this year and stepped up immensely in the absence of injured star Victor Oladipo for the Pacers.

Bogdanovic averaged 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game for the Pacers, while shooting 42.5% from behind the arc. At 30-years-old with substantial playoff experience, Bogdanovic is the type of sharpshooter the Lakers need to pair with LeBron and Anthony Davis.

He is a solid defender, he can put the ball on the floor and he is a sneaky good passer. Most importantly, he doesn’t come with any sort of locker room baggage. He is the kind of player who will simply come in and do his job. Very effectively I might add.

With their limited cap availability, I don’t think it is wise for the Lakers to spend all of their money on big fish. Kemba Walker will likely take his time on deciding about his future, and if the Lakers decide to wait for him to make a decision, they may very well lose out on some great pieces that they could add to the team at a reasonable price.

All because once again, they were caught drooling over big name superstar free agents who ultimately decided to take their talents somewhere else, or stay where they are.

They now have two top-5 players on their team, so as long as you can find great supporting pieces at a reasonable price, there is no reason why the Lakers should not be title contenders next season.

This is going to be the real test for the front office. Getting LeBron James and trading the entire young core for Anthony Davis doesn’t necessarily prove that the front office knows what they are doing. At least not in my eyes.

With only five players under contract for next season, the Lakers have a lot of work to do to fill out this roster.

Next. 5 Concerns from Anthony Davis trade. dark

With most of the major deals being made within the first 48 hours of free agency, I believe one of the first players the Lakers need to have a conversation with is Bogdanovic.

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