Things have not been going as planned for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2021-22 season. While things certainly could be going worse, it is safe to say that the team’s 12-11 start thus far in the season is very disappointing.
This is the team was was expected to be the runaway favorites in the Western Conference and now they do not even seem like they are on the same level as the Golden State Warriors or Phoenix Suns. That being said, there is still plenty of basketball left to play for the team to figure it out.
Part of the refining process for the Lakers is going to be replacing players who have been disappointing thus far in any means necessary. There is the slim possibility of the Lakers trading a small contract like Kendrick Nunn and some draft capital for a lesser player, but in reality, the replacements will either have to be internally or via the buyout market, which could be robust.
There are three Los Angeles Lakers who stand out the most as replaceable in the rotation.
We are going to dive into the three players that the Los Angeles Lakers should look into replacing at some point this season and even give some potential replacement options for the team to consider. It goes without saying that the Lakers are not going to get an amazing replacement, but at this point, any depth is good depth.
1. DeAndre Jordan
DeAndre Jordan has been really bad this season and it was not that hard to forecast when the Lakers first brought him in. While we were all excited because he was seemingly an upgrade over Marc Gasol, you could make the case that he has been even worse than Gasol was last season.
Gasol at least still played decent defense and did not clog the paint like Jordan. Jordan restricts what the team can do offensively as he is clogging the paint for Anthony Davis, and more importantly, he is horrible defensively as a big.
Jordan is old, slow and is not a valuable player in today’s NBA. There is a reason why a contending team like the Brooklyn Nets let him walk for free and there is a reason why the Lakers went on a big run against the Sacramento Kings when Dwight Howard came into the game.
Perhaps the replacement (and this is probably the best move) is to play Howard more and play Anthony Davis more at the five. However, Davis seems to have no intentions on playing the five more than periodically, so that is off the table.
The best-case scenario for the Lakers would be a Kevin Love buyout. Love has history with both LeBron James and Russell Westbrook and would give the team a solid rotation player that can play in the frontcourt without seriously restricting the floor spacing.
2. Kent Bazemore
Kent Bazemore practically has already been replaced by players on the Los Angeles Lakers. Bazemore had a big role on the Lakers when the season started, playing close to 30 minutes a night for the Lakers while the team was banged-up.
Frank Vogel quickly realized that Bazemore was not the solution for the Lakers and he played himself out of the rotation. Bazemore has been awful this season and has legitimately been one of the worst players in the league. He is not playing good defense and is shooting horribly. He is not adding anything positive.
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Bazemore has the worst Box Plus/Minus on the entire team at -6.0, which is one of the worst marks in the entire league. That is the sixth-worst Box Plus/Minus in the entire league among players who have played at least 300 minutes this season.
Bazemore played four minutes on November 19 against the Celtics, didn’t play for five minutes and then came in for two minutes against the Kings. He is a complete non-factor and as someone who warned of this before the season and got ridiculed, I have to take a small victory lap.
Ego-boosting aside, the Lakers have essentially already replaced him on the team but since he is not adding anything, if they can get rid of him and get someone who can help, that would be positive. Heck, even someone like Tomas Satoransky would be better than Bazemore and he is a potential buyout player.
3. Avery Bradley
Avery Bradley is the easiest of the three players for the Los Angeles Lakers to replace this season. The Lakers signed Bradley to a non-guaranteed contract right before the 2021-22 season began, practically signaling that they had intentions of letting him go when a better option became available.
Despite that being obvious, Bradley actually started to play a somewhat big role in the Lakers rotation. While injuries certainly played a part, it was surprising to see Bradley playing as much as he was when he was literally just cut by the Warriors, who once again, are in the elite tier of NBA teams.
Bradley is averaging 22.2 minutes per game and even in his last game before hurting his hand he still played 18 minutes against the Detroit Pistons. He is playing a somewhat decent role in the rotation and has not been good.
Despite Frank Vogel liking Bradley, he has not been good defensively and is not adding anything offensively. He has a -4.9 Box Plus/Minus and he obviously was not part of the team’s original plans in the offseason, so they should not hesitate to replace him when they can.
The best-case replacement would be Patrick Beverley if the Minnesota Timberwolves decided to buy out the veteran defensive guard.