After winning the NBA championship last season, the Los Angeles Lakers have had an embarrassment of riches.
They were able to extend superstars Anthony Davis and LeBron James long term, they added depth to an already championship-caliber roster, and areas that were once considered weaknesses can now be considered strengths.
Once again, a huge amount of credit must go to Rob Pelinka and the Lakers organization for putting their players in the best position to win consistently.
While players like Montrezl Harrell, Andre Drummond and Dennis Schröder who the Lakers were able to pick up this season have played wonderfully so far, there are a number of players who haven’t exactly played their best basketball for the purple and gold just yet.
While there is still time for them to turn things around, it isn’t looking good.
They could very easily come up big in the playoffs and all will be forgiven but as things stand now, we can assume that their long-term future with the Los Angeles Lakers is not exactly set in stone.
Before any of the players are named, it must be said that each player has brought something to the Lakers and even though they are being named as players who could and probably should be on the way out of the Lakers, that is not to detract from the impact they have had on the roster as a whole.
While their on-court production hasn’t been up to scratch, a number of these players have helped create the championship culture within this current team for the purple and gold and while they may leave, fans of the purple and gold will always look back fondly on the time they had with these players and they like all Lakers before them, they bare the same stamp of approval that has been given to generations of Lakers.
“Once a Laker, always a Laker”
Last week, we looked at the upcoming free agents that the Los Angeles Lakers absolutely could not afford to let walk away. Today, we look at the contrary.