The Los Angeles Lakers had a lot of work to do in free agency following the massive Russell Westbrook trade. Rob Pelinka had the task of filling out a roster that after the trade only had four rotation players, yet was already over the cap.
Despite the hurdles that were present, the Lakers were able to build out a fairly deep roster full of minimum contract players. While there is definitely the risk of it blowing up, it is more likely that the Lakers have an NBA Finals roster on their hands.
The team still has several open roster spots and several free-agent options to consider. One of those options was going to be Andre Iguodala, who instead decided to sign with the Golden State Warriors.
We broke down the free agents the Lakers could pursue after Iguodala spurned the Lakers and that consisted of veteran minimum options.
Perhaps the Los Angeles Lakers could go the other way and sign a recent lottery pick.
The Los Angeles Lakers are not going to get a massive signing at this point in the offseason and it might be more appealing to the team to bring in a young player that they can try to develop rather than sign a veteran to simply sit the bench (hi, Jared Dudley!).
We should not expect these players to be stars and chances are they won’t reinvent themselves on the Lakers. However, there is the slim chance that the Lakers can unlock whatever was in there that led them to be a lottery pick in the first place, and that could be worth the roster spot.
1. Dennis Smith Jr.
Dennis Smith Jr. was selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and the point guard got off to a promising start in his career. Smith looked to at least be a good rotation player in the NBA and there were definitely higher expectations for him.
Smith burst into the league and averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. Anyone that is entrenched in the advanced analytics knows that his season was not as impressive as his baseline box score as he was inefficient and was not the best defender.
However, the seeds were still placed and in the right system with the right role it is not absurd to think that Smith can be a valuable rotation player. He definitely would have to change from the play that he has been thus far in his career but change is not impossible.
Smith turns 24 this November. Sure, things are bad, but he is still extremely young and has not necessarily been in the best situations. He played on a bad Dallas team, was traded to a bad New York team and had a brief stint with a bad Detroit team. Many players would struggle in that same situation.
The Los Angeles Lakers are stacked in the backcourt and it would be a developmental project more than anything. But instead of signing a veteran to not play any minutes, perhaps the Lakers see something in Smith and can sign him to not play much but work on his game and be part of the team in the future.
If not Smith, there is another recent lottery guard that could have the same potential.
2. Frank Ntilikina
Frank Ntilikina was taken one pick ahead of Dennis Smith Jr. in the 2017 NBA Draft and it is fitting considering the position both of them are at in their careers. They are both guards, were teammates on the New York Knicks and are now free agents without many suitors despite being young in the league.
With Smith the hope would be to channel his athleticism and build hit shot, as well as his defensive abilities, to create a high-energy guy who can actually stretch the floor and stay on the court to play defense.
Ntilikina actually has a skill already that can be valuable to a team: defense. It gets overlooked because he is such a zero on the offensive side of the court but Ntilikina is a legitimately good defensive player with size and length in the backcourt.
Ntilikina has gotten better defensively every single season in the league and although it was a small sample size, he posted a 2.2 Defensive Box Plus/Minus last season. Alex Caruso posted a 2.3 DBPM.
Ntilikina still is not quite what Caruso is but Caruso can be a telling sign for the Lakers. The Lakers took a good defensive guy that was a zero offensively and turned him into one of the team’s most important defenders as well as someone who could help offensively.
Ntilikina has a lot of work to do but it is not like it is impossible. He is only 23 years old and his first three NBA years can be viewed as his college year. With Olympic experience under his belt, and with a team that can actually build him up, Ntilikina can carve out a career as a role player in the NBA.