Los Angeles Lakers: 3 starters to target in free agency

The Los Angeles Lakers agreed upon trade to acquire Anthony Davis has left them with plenty of holes on the roster. Instead of aiming to spend that on one player, here are three players the team should target to round out their starting lineup.

The Los Angeles Lakers have done it. They have landed the second superstar that was promised. In back to back seasons the Purple and Gold have been able to land LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

With Anthony Davis now joining the Los Angeles Lakers, they have a real shot at contending for the NBA title next season. This trade was made hastily after Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had gotten injured during Game 5 and 6 of the NBA Finals which has opened the gates in the Western Conference for the Lakers to potentially make a clear path to the NBA Finals.

The general consensus in NBA circles is for the Lakers to make a run at a third superstar in order to make a super team. With Davis and LeBron James, you already have two of the top seven players in the NBA.

If the Lakers somehow managed to land Kyrie Irving or Kawhi Leonard, they would have potentially the greatest Big Three ever assembled. Having LeBron, AD and Kawhi Leonard would be like having Iron Man, Captain America and Thor (Kyrie can be the Hulk in this analogy).

While this big three would be unbelievable, it would leave the Lakers with a pretty bare roster.  Apart from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers currently only have Mortiz Wagner, Kyle Kuzma, Isaac Bonga and Jemarrio Jones on the roster. While the Lakers have the room exception, it will require a lot of veteran minimum players to fill out the roster.

While that shouldn’t be too hard to do as there is plenty of players available who will be willing to take a haircut in order to get a championship ring, I would argue that if the Lakers choose to fill out the roster with quality starters and add depth rather than throwing all the money at a max player, they could have a team that is equally capable of winning with depth.

If the Lakers miss out on Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard, I don’t see another max guy outside of Jimmy Butler worth pursuing.

Here are three players the Los Angeles Lakers should target instead of a third max contract.