Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the players on the team’s roster

The Los Angeles Lakers overhauled their roster this offseason. How should the players on the new squad be ranked?

The Los Angeles Lakers will open the 2019-20 season with a roster that looks much different than the one that finished last season.

It will include:

• Just two returning players who remained under contract: LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma
• Four players who were re-signed as free agents: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo
• One superstar that they acquired by trade: Anthony Davis
• One player they drafted in the second round of this year’s draft: Talen Horton-Tucker
• Two players who were awarded two-way contracts: Kostas Antetokounmpo and Zach Norvell Jr.
• Six newly-signed free agent players: Avery Bradley, Quinn Cook, DeMarcus Cousins (who will likely miss most of, if not the entire year due to a torn ACL), Troy Daniels, Jared Dudley and Danny Green

An NBA roster can contain 15 players. A team can also have two additional two-way players, bringing the total to 17. Here is an unofficial ranking of the 17 players on the Lakers roster along with the roles they are likely to play this year:

Two-way Players: Antetokounmpo and Norvell are allowed by NBA rule to spend no more than 45 days with the Lakers. That shouldn’t be a problem as both are expected to spend the vast majority of their time in the G League, Neither is expected to contribute very much on the big stage this year barring injury to several “varsity” members.