The Los Angeles Lakers fell short of everyone’s expectations last season and the team did not do much in the summer to sell itself to the fans. Russell Westbrook is still on the roster as the team just made marginal changes to the role players that are surrounding the big three.
The biggest change for the team is the arrival of Darvin Ham, who is replacing Frank Vogel as the head coach. While some fans might be optimistic for Ham, the Lakers have issues that are going to be really hard for any head coach to fix.
Perhaps the biggest issue is the fact that Los Angeles is sporting an incredibly unbalanced roster. On this unbalanced roster, there are players who are rather pointless, and quite frankly, are simply taking up a roster spot.
Here are the 3 players who are pointless to have on the Lakers roster:
1. Max Christie
The Los Angeles Lakers selected shooting guard Max Christie in the 2022 NBA Draft and even at the time the selection did not seem that great. While second-round picks hardly pan out to begin with, the Lakers have an eye for late-round talent and many fans were excited to see what they would do.
Instead of drafting an older player that could maybe produce right away, the Lakers took a 19-year-old that is not going to get any playing time on the team this season. He signed a fully-guaranteed two-year deal, so his spot on the roster is guaranteed.
This is not to say that Christie can’t eventually develop into a decent player but this is a team that needs to win now and can’t really waste a roster spot on someone who might become a decent rotation player in four years.
2. Troy Brown Jr.
The Los Angeles Lakers were limited in the contracts that they could dish out in free agency. With only minimum contracts to work with, Los Angeles gave out a one-year deal to Troy Brown Jr, which seemed to be more about LeBron’s connection than adding someone to be in the rotation.
It is not a coincidence that Brown signed with the Lakers just six months after he agreed to sign on with Klutch Sports. It is very obvious that Klutch had an impact on who the Lakers brought in with these free-agent signings, as Juan Toscano-Anderson is also a Klutch client.
JTA will at least play a role on this team while it is hard to carve out any rotation minutes for Brown. Before the Lakers made all of their ensuing moves there was a path for Brown to get minutes on this team. However, with the current roster construct, he is going to be a backend guy.
Maybe Brown finds a niche as a bench wing since the Lakers don’t really have any of those but with all of the guards on the roster it seems like the team will instead run more three-guard lineups and give the “wing” minutes to Patrick Beverley and JTA.
Every roster needs the backend guys, it would have just been nice to see the team bring in someone who could actually add depth somewhere it is needed rather than just giving a Klutch client a job.
3. Wenyen Gabriel
We named Wenyen Gabriel as one of the Lakers that are most likely to not finish the 2022-23 season with the team. The reason for that is because his fit on this roster is peculiar and as soon as the Lakers need to include a contract in a trade or waive someone to make room he is a candidate.
Gabriel came to the Lakers last season and was able to provide minutes to a team that desperately needed them but it was not like he was fantastic. He has an odd skill set that does not really fit today’s game or fit with how this roster is.
Gabriel is essentially a four but he cannot shoot, making him more of a small-ball five than anything else. When Anthony Davis is hurt and you do not have good centers having Gabriel makes more sense.
However, the Lakers are obviously hoping that Davis won’t be hurt this season and they have improved at the center position with both Thomas Bryant and Damian Jones. It is hard to find an avenue for Gabriel to get a consistent role on this team with what he offers.
Lakers fans can finally agree with LeBron James on something
Lakers fans can finally agree with LeBron James on something after the superstar reiterated his hatred for the Boston Celtics at media day.
That could change if he shows improvement in training camp but at the end of the day, Gabriel will likely be someone who does not play much on the Lakers and is more of a roster filler until the team can improve.