Ranking the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest needs at the NBA All-Star break

1. The Los Angeles Lakers need a traditional center behind Marc Gasol

I do think that Los Angeles Lakers fans have been a bit unfair to Marc Gasol. Gasol has definitely had a positive defensive impact on this team and those that did not realize it should have realized it in the last two games when he did not play.

However, those two games also showcased why the Los Angeles Lakers desperately need to find that traditional second center for depth at the position.

Gasol is a complete non-factor offensively, which increases the need for more consistent offensive wing players. But his defense is good enough and he can handle his own in the NBA Playoffs. The problem is, though, that he is maxing out at 20 minutes a game.

This could create problems in the playoffs, especially if the Lakers come up against the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic torched Montrezl Harrell in the playoffs last year and the Lakers need to limit the minutes that Harrell is guarding Jokic. That is a prime example of a playoff series where someone such as Hassan Whiteside would become very valuable.

The playoffs are all about matchups and while Harrell is the better overall player, we could see someone like Whiteside get more minutes against Denver simply to serve as an anchor at the rim to slow down Jokic.

Gasol only being able to give a solid 20 minutes, 25 at most, creates the mismatches for Denver and if he ends up getting hurt or gets in early foul trouble then the Lakers would be in big trouble.

The Lakers have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, because as we saw in those last two games of the first half, the worst-case scenario is not pretty.