2. The Los Angeles Lakers have no money to spend this offseason
The Los Angeles Lakers need to add depth to the roster and don’t have the money to do so. All of the same roster-building issues from last season will translate into next season as Russell Westbrook is still on the books and the team is still over the luxury tax.
The one added thing that the Lakers can spend, the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, will likely be used on Malik Monk (if he even stays). Regardless, the Lakers will be using that to either keep the lone good role player from last year or try and replace him.
The rest of the additions will be minimum players and as we know, you cannot build a rotation where the 7th through 15th players are almost all minimum guys. There are better ways to fill out depth, including with a second-round pick.
The Lakers have historically had a great eye for talent late in the draft and Laker fans should feel confident that the team can find a quality player in round two. All the Lakers need is someone who can come in and play in the rotation and produce quality minutes.
Then the team is going to have a massive amount of cap space next summer, allowing Los Angeles to go out and spend on another star or on depth. For now, though, the Lakers need to add depth where they can, which makes this 2022 second-round pick way more important than a potential 2023 second-round pick.