The Los Angeles Lakers had a lot of roster turnover this offseason after the team put together one of the worst supporting casts that LeBron James has ever had last season. Los Angeles got much younger and is hoping that this supporting cast can be better than it was last season.
Things have not been perfect for the Lakers, who have showcased some concerning issues in the preseason that could hinder their regular-season play. However, it is just the start of what is a very long season and the team can reinvent itself with more time together.
The outcomes of these preseason games do not matter, it is what we see and can take away from each game that does. Fans have had a close eye on the new offseason additions for LA, with some of these players doing better thus far than others.
We are also only looking at players that the Lakers signed/traded for in the offseason. We are not including the two-way players or players that were signed on training camp deals (or else Matt Ryan would rank first).
Let’s rank the Lakers offseason additions by their preseason play.
Not ranked: Dennis Schroder, Troy Brown Jr, Max Christie
There are specific reasons why each of these players is not ranked. Schroder has only played one preseason game for the Lakers, hardly played, and suffered an injury. It would be hard to judge him off of nine preseason minutes that came in just one game.
Brown has not played in the preseason at all thus far as he is also dealing with an injury. He does not seem destined to have a big role in the rotation anyway, but it would have been nice to see him in action now as one of the team’s few wing options.
Max Christie has played but he doesn’t rank because he was a draft pick and because he probably is not going to play much in his rookie season, anyway. That is what happens when you draft a 19-year-old in the second round.