The Los Angeles Lakers could be missing some key players once the season resumes.
The NBA is planning on resuming the 2019-20 NBA season at the end of July with eight “seeding games” before getting into the playoffs. This is huge for Laker fans, as the Los Angeles Lakers will not have the irreversible feeling of “what if” without getting a chance to play for a title.
However, while certain players, such as LeBron James, seem optimistic to return, others are not in the same boat. Most notably, Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley have spoken out about returning to play in Orlando.
This stems from a conference call held last Friday that featured Kyrie Irving prominently discussing whether or not players should be okay with returning to play basketball with the ongoing racial issues in America.
One of the players that have been the most vocal about this issue has been Dwight Howard. Howard is reportedly still undecided on whether or not he would play, with his agent, Charles Briscoe, stating that Howard is saying that the American people cannot take their attention away from the racial issues to talk basketball.
Avery Bradley helped organize a call on Monday with Kyrie Irving that lead to the statement made by the coalition of players that want to discuss the league’s return in further detail.
While neither player has fully committed outright to not playing in Orlando, it is a possibility. There reportedly is not a divide within the Los Angeles Lakers between those who want to play and those who don’t, which is a positive sign, to say the least.
But what if neither play? What is the plan?
What to do if Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley don’t return to the Los Angeles Lakers
There are two plans if Dwight Howard decides not to play when the regular season resumes.
Plan A: Sign DeMarcus Cousins. Since Cousins was under contract this season, he could qualifiy as a potential replacement player. Cousins is seemingly still close with the team as the team allowed him to continue to work out and rehab his torn ACL after releasing him to open up a roster spot.
Cousins should be ready to go, but we still do not know how good he is going to be. He came back in the NBA Playoffs last year and showed brilliant signs but was obviously not 100 percent. With three separate injuries to the same leg, who knows if he can even be a productive player anymore.
The Cousins plan is not a bad one, but the Lakers need to have a plan B.
Plan B: Give Devontae Cacok a role and play Anthony Davis more at the center position. This would allow the team to stay internal with who they are bringing into the rotation to bridge any potential gap and would even allow the team to run a bigger lineup with Kyle Kuzma or Markieff Morris on the floor and AD at the center position.
Between JaVale McGee, Davis and a handful of minutes from Cacok, the Lakers should be able to figure things out and get a good idea of what the playoff rotation should look like and whether or not Cacok should be a part of it.
Chances are the center minutes were going to shrink slightly anyway, so it is doable to replace Howard without actually bringing in anyone to replace him.
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Losing Bradley would be a much bigger deal. Not only is Bradley a solid starting point guard that fits perfectly alongside LeBron James but he also plays great defense that will be sorely missed. We don’t quite yet know the requirements for the replacement players but either way, the Lakers are not going to get someone who is going to play to Bradley’s level.
This is manageable, though. The best way Frank Vogel can fix this is by giving more minutes to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green and starting KCP at the point guard position. He is not a traditional point guard in the slightest but the team does not need that with LeBron James, they need his scoring and defense.
KCP and Green can both start in the backcourt and play around 30 minutes per game in the postseason, which is five more than they currently are now. Rajon Rondo is going to have to see the same number of minutes (20.5), so any ideas of him getting fewer minutes in the playoffs is out the window.
Alex Caruso is going to play the same number of minutes. There are 96 minutes to be used at the two guard spots and with Green and KCP at 30 and Rondo at 20, Caruso will find himself playing 16 minutes per game.
However, Green and KCP have played the three and minutes are going to have to be made up there. Luckily, the team has Markieff Morris, who is a good-enough perimeter defender to play the three and should see a huge uptick from his 14.1 minutes per game.
Dion Waiters is also someone who can contribute to these needed minutes as well, which is helpful for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, it will be interesting to see whether or not Frank Vogel can learn to fully trust Waiters in the playoff rotation after only eight games.