The Los Angeles Lakers are not off to a great start in the 2021-22 season and they have many fans wondering if this is even a true contending team. There are several teams in the Western Conference who would likely smoke the Lakers in a playoff series with how the Lakers are playing.
While there is plenty of time for the team to turn things around, there is no guarantee that it will happen. This has been a constant problem throughout Russell Westbrook’s career, which is why no other team wanted to trade for him, and LeBron James is only getting older.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and we were talking ourselves into the Westbrook trade when it happened. But what if we could go back and change the actions of the offseason, not just the Westbrook trade, to make the best version of the Lakers possible?
Here is what we would do.
First of all, the Los Angeles Lakers are not making the Russell Westbrook trade
This trade should not have happened. While there is still the chance that the Lakers figure out how to make Westbrook work, those chances appear to be slim and it seems more likely that this blows up in the team’s face.
This would be one thing if Westbrook was on an expiring deal and the team could pivot after this season. They can’t. Westbrook has a $47 million player option that he would be foolish to turn down next season, giving the Lakers no outs whatsoever.
Next year’s team is going to be the same thing as this year’s team with a few of the veterans cycled out for new veterans. And if it does not work this year it definitely is not going to work next year.
So what should the Lakers do with those assets and cap space?
The Los Angeles Lakers trade for Buddy Hield
The Los Angeles Lakers made a decision in the offseason and it appears that they made the wrong one. Instead of trading for Russell Westbrook, if the reports are correct, the team could have instead traded for Sacramento’s Buddy Hield, which would have been a much better outlook.
Hield is not an elite player and he has gotten a bit overrated by Laker fans as they look at how the alternative is playing. That being said, Hield would have fit on this team as a third scorer as his three-point shooting and floor spacing would have excelled next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
He might not be a superstar but the Lakers didn’t need to add a third superstar. It seems like Rob Pelinka was name chasing and chased the name of Westbrook instead of taking the lesser player who fits the team better (and honestly, Hield might not even be lesser at this point).
The best part about this deal is it gives the Lakers an out if it does not work as Hield is moveable and is not going to restrict the team from making other moves. Hield is making $22.4 million this season and is under contract for another two seasons. However, his salary goes down each year.
Kyle Kuzma later confirmed that he was shocked that the Buddy Hield trade didn’t end up happening as he thought it was a done deal. The reported package was Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell for Hield.
With Hield making almost half of what Westbrook is making this season, the Lakers could have made another trade as well.
The Los Angeles Lakers trade for Lonzo Ball
Anyone that reads my work here on Lake Show Life knows that I am a big Lonzo Ball fan and it is because he is a great basketball player who would actually be a good fit on this team. His three-point shooting has improved immensely as he is now one of the best three-point shooters in the league and more importantly, he does not need the ball to be successful.
That is the big problem with Westbrook and LeBron, which we have not even seen that much with LeBron being hurt. Westbrook needs the basketball in his hands to be effective. Ball doesn’t. He can operate as the team’s facilitator when LeBron is off the court and even be a second playmaker but he does so by keeping the basketball moving and flowing throughout the offense.
Ball agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Chicago Bulls and in the trade, the New Orleans Pelicans received essentially nothing. Granted, Lonzo appeared to want to go to the Bulls the entire time but as a restricted free agent, the Pelicans could have matched the contract offer and traded him for a better package, which the Lakers could have sent.
Ball’s cap hit is $18.6 million this season so the Lakers would have to come up with around that number in a trade. That could have easily been done with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Marc Gasol and the 22nd pick in the 2021 NBA Draft (that pick’s salary value gets counted).
That might not seem like a great package for New Orleans but it is certainly better than Garrett Temple, Tomas Satoransky and a second-round pick. In this package, they get an asset they can flip in KCP as well as a first-round pick.
The best part about all of this is that Ball and Hield make a combined $41 million, which is $3.2 million less than Westbrook. The team would still be over the luxury tax but they get two for the price of one and for slightly cheaper.
The Los Angeles Lakers re-sign Alex Caruso
The Los Angeles Lakers should have re-signed Alex Caruso even with the Russell Westbrook trade. The Lakers decided to pinch pennies and undersell their most important perimeter defender from the last two years.
Now, the Lakers have one of the worst defenses in the entire league while Caruso is thriving with the Bulls. It is not like his price tag was all that high and the Lakers can afford the tax hits that would have come along with Caruso.
Caruso is making $8.6 million this season and the main reason why the Lakers did not want to re-sign him is that he would have increased the tax bill by $34 million because of the way the luxury tax is tiered.
I understand why the Lakers didn’t do it but that does not mean that I agree. That tax payment doesn’t restrict the cap next year so there isn’t a competitive advantage that would hurt the team in future years. It is just money that would decrease the Lakers’ bottom line at the end of the season.
This is a billion-dollar sports franchise that we are talking about. One of the five most valuable in the United States. This is not the Kansas City Royals. The Lakers could have afforded it, and in this alternate reality, the tax bill would have been slightly less as they would have saved $3.2 million by not trading for Westbrook.
Veteran free-agent changes for the Los Angeles Lakers:
The Los Angeles Lakers signed some solid veterans and did a good job of building a deep rotation (when it is healthy). That being said, there are still some players that I would switch out, both of which are coming from the Golden State Warriors.
Otto Porter Jr. in place of Kent Bazemore
I don’t want to take a victory lap on Kent Bazemore just yet as he was a signing that I criticized here on Lake Show Life and some fans did not like that and argued that Bazemore would be a difference-maker.
Bazemore has not been very good this season and has seen his playing time shrink and shrink as a result. Meanwhile, Otto Porter continues to be a great shooter from beyond the arc while also playing serviceable defense that, at the very least, is as good as Bazemore.
Nemanja Bjelica in place of DeAndre Jordan
The Los Angeles Lakers don’t need two traditional centers. Anthony Davis should be playing the five more and signing Nemanja Bjelica instead of Dwight Howard could help accomplish that. Bjelica could log some minutes at the five but with Davis being a better rebounder, he would end up spending more time near the rim with Bjelica on the court.
Bjelica is another shooting option that really helps with the team’s floor spacing. It would not be as much of an issue with Westbrook not on the team but the Lakers should still be looking for players that can stretch the floor without sacrificing too much.
Bjelica does just that.
Final rotation:
- PG: Lonzo Ball
- SG: Buddy Hield
- SF: LeBron James
- PF: Anthony Davis
- C: Dwight Howard
- 6th: Carmelo Anthony
- 7th: Alex Caruso
- 8th: Talen Horton-Tucker
- 9th: Kendrick Nunn
- 10th: Nemanja Bjelica
- 11th: Otto Porter
- 12th: Trevor Ariza
- 13th: Malik Monk
- 14th: Rajon Rondo
Now tell me that isn’t a loaded, and deep, basketball team.