The Lakers had an inexcusable offseason that will lead to disappointment
For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to have possibly the worst offseason out of any team in the NBA.
They made plenty of mind-boggling moves throughout the season that leaves even more questions surrounding the team’s fit than they had last year. An incredibly concerning idea for any Lakers fan.
The Lakers made no moves to add spacing, while somehow having fewer three-point threats than they had last year, losing Carmelo Anthony and Malik Monk, arguably the two brightest points of last season.
They even lost interior defense by letting Dwight Howard go. Although, he is still in free agency.
The team did bring in Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant to play center, although neither impressed all that much during the preseason. This leaves fans wondering how productive the five can actually be this season.
This problem is only worsened by Anthony Davis’ refusal to play center and his need to shoot threes despite only shooting 18.6% from three last season, making it difficult for them to win even with the star big man healthy.
The Lakers’ offseason woes don’t end there as they have managed to overload the backcourt with about three teams’ worth of starting-caliber guards.
Los Angeles already had Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, and Austin Reaves going into the offseason but have spent their summer adding Lonnie Walker, Troy Brown Jr, Max Christie, Scotty Pippin Jr, Dennis Schroder, and Patrick Beverley.
Five or six of those players could realistically start on this Lakers squad this season.
Another problem the Los Angeles Lakers have backed themselves into is a complete lack of forward depth to give LeBron James any rest.
With James rapidly approaching 40 years old, he will slowly need more time on the bench to stay effective on the court, the lack of quality forwards on the roster outside of him is incredibly disappointing for not only King James, but also any Lakers fan hoping to see him play over 70 games.
2022 champion Juan Toscano-Anderson may just be their best forward not named LeBron James or Anthony Davis, this is scary for the team as he was the fourth-string small forward in Golden State where he is likely to be the second-string forward for the Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers have some major complications with their roster when it comes to spacing the floor and rim protection outside of Davis.
With rumors of the Lakers declining a trade with the Indiana Pacers where they would have received Buddy Hield and Myles Turner for Russell Westbrook and two first-round picks, there are many left wondering how much better this roster could have been.
Hield and Turner would provide exactly what the Lakers are missing on their roster while also filling in the gaps in the positions with the Lakers. This move also could have helped define the roles on the team much better as Patrick Beverley would become the clear starter for them.
Just to rub salt in the wound, the Lakers went off and played one good preseason game while looking like they had a serious case of the Wembanyama-flu in the rest of their games.
This is the second year in a row where the Los Angeles Lakers have been abysmal in the offseason while the rest of the western conference continues to get better.
The result of their last bad summer was missing the playoffs and it is unfortunately not that difficult to imagine the same result this upcoming season, although nothing is impossible for a team featuring LeBron James.