Los Angeles Lakers: Re-doing the 2021 offseason

In-season moves and a look at the future

One thing that would not have definitely changed regardless of Lakers’ offseason moves is the COVID wave that hit the league in December.

With half the roster in Health and Safety Protocols, it is reasonable to believe that the Lakers would have anyway resorted to add players from their G League affiliate and discovered the immense contribution Stanley Johnson can give on the defensive end.

This would lead to signing him to elevate the bench’s defense and make it even deadlier. Johnson would prove to be a vital defensive stopper to try ad limit the opponents’ go-to-guy in key moments of the game. Another valuable asset to add on a minimum contract.

Furthermore, without executing any trade, the Lakers would have retained their 2021 first-round pick. Although it apparently looks rather irrelevant as of now, stay with me. If the roster as built had good results and the front office felt really good about their chances to win the championship, maybe Pelinka would have been willing to part with their 2027 first-round pick in order to obtain forward Cam Reddish in an in-season trade with the Atlanta Hawks, something they refused to do to preserve their assets in the post-LeBron James era.

Had he seen that adding a young up-and-coming talent like Reddish could have additionally boosted their chances to the championship, it would have made sense sacrificing the pick, also given they would have anyway selected a young player in the past draft (and Reddish is not an elderly himself).

The former Hawk would have added defense, 3-point shooting (things you can never have enough of in modern NBA) and promise to become a productive core piece in the future, at a very affordable price (for the moment). Instead, he is currently rotting in New York at the end of Tom Thibodeau’s bench, who, apparently, does not look so excited to have him on the roster.

Sacrificing that 2027 pick would not look so bad at this point. With promising players like Horton-Tucker, Reddish, Monk, Reaves, plus possibly the 2021 pick, the Lakers would look to have insured their future following LeBron’s retirement with talented youngsters useful to surround AD or be used as valuable assets in trades.

Drawing conclusions

This hypothetical team, built through under-the-radar moves and smart management could have been a real force in the NBA. Or at least have better chances than the current.

Of course, injuries would happen anyway, COVID would struck throughout the league and James and Davis would face extended absences, but working from the start with a solidified nucleus with an already established chemistry would have been easier and allowed better results from the start, helping to make up more efficiently for the absences along the season.

Unfortunately, this is not the way things went, but it reminds that sometimes the most attractive, shining way is not the best one in the fluctuating landscape of the NBA, where defense is the only constant to really rely on.