The Los Angeles Lakers finally added the center that fans have been wanting for weeks now. After not being traded at the trade deadline, Andre Drummond was bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers and is now signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
This fixes a massive hole on the Lakers’ depth chart. The center position was already in question before the season with only one traditional center on the roster in Marc Gasol. Gasol’s poor play worsened the issue and it was clear that the Lakers needed help near the rim.
Drummond was the best player the Lakers could have realistically brought in. The team did not have the means to trade for Nikola Vucecic and outside of him, there really were not any better options than Drummond. Luckily, nobody traded for the big man and the Lakers could sign him at the league minimum.
Andre Drummond still is not a star for the Los Angeles Lakers
Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Yes, Drummond is a former all-star and those rebounding numbers are staggering but he is a box-score stuffer that has not had the kind of impact that a traditional star would on his team. Let’s not pretend like the Lakers suddenly have three stars now. They don’t.
But they did fill their biggest need and more importantly, fixed some matchup issues that they potentially will have in the NBA Playoffs.
In particular, there are three teams that should be upset that the Los Angeles Lakers signed Andre Drummond, either because it helps level the playing field or further creates an advantage that the Lakers already have.