3 great defensive players the Los Angeles Lakers easily could have had

1. Otto Porter

Otto Porter is someone who I wanted on the Los Angeles Lakers even before the 2021 summer. Porter was included in the trade that sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago and it seemed likely that the Orlando Magic would buy Porter out and save some money on his big salary.

That ultimately did not end up happening but when he hit free agency it was clear that he should be a target for the Los Angeles Lakers. Porter was naturally going to receive a minimum contract (which he did) because he became one of the most underrated players in the entire NBA.

We see this time and time again in the NBA. A player, like Porter, gets a massive contract that overpays him. That contract then becomes tied to him as a player. He is never going to live that contract up and thus, the contract becomes a bad one. That bad contract makes people think Otto Porter is a bad player. It happened with Nicolas Batum and look how good he has been for the Clippers.

Porter has arguably been even better for the Warriors. Porter is exactly the wing-stopper that the Los Angeles Lakers need and he still would have provided great three-point shooting. Out of every NBA player with at least 600 minutes played this season, Porter ranks eighth in Defensive Box Plus/Minus. That puts him in the 97th percentile. 

Oh, and he is shooting a casual 40.4% from three in 3.9 attempts per game. Just imagine if the Lakers signed him instead of Kent Bazemore and let Bazemore stay in Golden State.