Los Angeles Lakers: 3 minimum free agents that should have been signed

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 18: JaVale McGee #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Hassan Whiteside #21 of the Portland Trail Blazers battle under the basket during the second half in Game 1 of Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 18, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ashley Landis-Pool/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 18: JaVale McGee #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Hassan Whiteside #21 of the Portland Trail Blazers battle under the basket during the second half in Game 1 of Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 18, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ashley Landis-Pool/Getty Images)
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(Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers

Minimum free agents that would have fit nicely on the Los Angeles Lakers: 2. Jeff Teague

This very well could have been an issue where the play at hand, Jeff Teague, signed with a team that would offer him a bigger role. Teague agreed to a contract with the Boston Celtics and should get decent minutes off the bench at the point guard position.

While the Lakers have Dennis Schroder, the team definitely would have benefitted from adding another point guard to the mix. Realistically, the team lost two players that played the position in Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley and replaced them with just one.

Schroder is great and I really like how the bench unit looks and how they can simply outscore other bench units with Schroder and Harrell. However, there are still some questions around Schroder’s ability to initiate and run an offense as a traditional point guard off the bench.

I think he will be just fine, but it would have been nice to have that veteran guard to play 10-15 minutes per game to take some of that burden off of Schroder and LeBron.

This also would have helped the team in the games where LeBron does not play, as there will be some. Schroder becomes the team’s only real facilitator in games that LeBron does not play, or takes on a smaller workload.

Having a veteran to help in that department would have been great for LA.