The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of the most disappointing season in franchise history and the current roster does not indicate that things will get much better for the team during the 2022-23 season.
Los Angeles can band-aid the problems by pitching the hiring of Darvin Ham and the new free-agent acquisitions but the reality of the situation is that this current version of the Lakers is not good enough to win the title, let alone escape the play-in.
That being said, the window of being a true title contender has not completely closed, so long that the Lakers make the right decisions and certain things break the team’s way.
Here are the 3 keys to the Los Angeles Lakers shocking the world next season:
1. Get rid of Russell Westbrook
This is the most obvious key for the Lakers if they are going to get anywhere. Most of the issues that the team dealt with last season stemmed from having Russell Westbrook on the roster. Westbrook simply does not mesh well with the star players that the Lakers have and he is not changing his game anytime soon.
Those that look just at the box score will say that Westbrook is still being productive but those that watched Lakers basketball 82 times last year know the true story. The Lakers are not going to contend for a championship with Russ.
At this point, LA would probably be better off just telling him to stay home and paying him not to play. However, that is a massive waste of salary-cap space and the team is much better off trading him.
A Kyrie Irving trade is obviously the best route, but quite frankly, LA would still have a much better chance of winning the title if they instead traded for Julius Randle or Buddy Hield and Myles Turner.
2. Anthony Davis to stay healthy
Obviously, every single NBA team in the league needs to stay mostly healthy if they want to win a championship. You could make this same case for every single contending team in the league with their top star. The Bucks aren’t winning anything if Giannis Antetokounmpo gets hurt, the Celtics aren’t winning without Jayson Tatum, the Warriors are winning without Stephen Curry… you get the point.
This is different for the Lakers though as we are actually talking about an injury-prone star in Anthony Davis. Injuries are a much bigger concern for Davis than they are for the other stars in the league and that is why it is so important to the team.
And while he is the face of the league, the Lakers can survive a LeBron James injury so long that it is short-term and does not happen in the playoffs. Davis is the most important player on the entire roster so him staying healthy all year is imperative for the team’s success.
People are sleeping on AD heading into the 2022-23 season and they have forgotten that he is a top-five player in the league when he is at his best. There are very few people in the league that can do what he does both ways when he is right.
Davis was the best player during the Lakers’ championship run in 2020 and if the team is going to shock the world they need to see that Davis return, fully healthy, when it matters most.
3. The Los Angeles Lakers need more help from the role players
Even if the Los Angeles Lakers trade Russell Westbrook and Davis is completely healthy it is going to be really hard to win a title with the current projection of the roster. The first two keys will put the team in the conversation for the title but securing this third key will ultimately result in the team winning it all.
Los Angeles simply needs more help from the role players than they are currently projected to get this season. Some of that involves adding talent and some of it involves stepping up. There is a realistic path to the team getting that extra help as well.
Role players that can step up and produce more than expected: Thomas Bryant, Kendrick Nunn, Lonnie Walker IV
These are your breakout candidates; the players who can elevate their play and play a bigger role in the rotation than we expected before. Los Angeles does not need all three to step up but if the team can have two of these players be the best version of themselves that would be huge.
Adding a role player via trade
This could come as part of the Kyrie Irving trade if the Lakers also acquire Joe Harris or it could come by flipping Talen Horton-Tucker for a different role player. Regardless, the Lakers should be looking to add at least one role player via trade that will produce more than THT will.
Snagging impact buyout signings
This could be someone like Patrick Beverley or Kevin Love. Heck, it does not even need to be a big name. If the Lakers can get an impact buyout guy that plays quality minutes in the postseason then the title odds shoot up drastically.
The 3 teams that can help the Lakers accelerate a Kyrie Irving trade
The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that these three teams can trade for Kevin Durant and accelerate a potential Kyrie Irving trade.
In 2020 that buyout player was Markieff Morris, whose 42% three-point percentage in that year’s playoffs is third in franchise history for a single playoff run. If they can get something like that the Lakers are in good shape.