The Los Angeles Lakers roster looks much different heading into the 2021 season than they did at the end of last season. After falling short in the NBA Playoffs, albeit because of injuries, the front office went to work and made some bold moves in the offseason.
Rob Pelinka made the boldest trade he could make to get a third star in Russell Westbrook. While Westbrook is a former MVP, his contract is one of the highest in the league and his playstyle has not really translated to winning basketball.
It didn’t matter. The Lakers have the best winner in the league in LeBron James. They went for it and set off a domino of moves after the trade.
The Lakers had to fill out the roster but outside of the Taxpayer’s MLE and the Bird Rights to Talen Horton-Tucker, the team only had minimum contracts to give out. The result is a roster full of veterans on one-year deals whose futures are not guaranteed in LA.
There are three new Los Angeles Lakers who could become long-term players in LA.
The Lakers do not want to completely turn over the roster every year and there definitely are players that they will target from this year’s team to try and keep around past this season.
THT is obviously a long-term play for the Lakers but he is not a new Laker. Let’s break down the three new Lakers that could end up being long-term players for the purple and gold.