If there was ever an offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers to make a real push at some all-in moves, it would be this one. Rob Pelinka and the franchise have their moment to set up Luka Doncic for success. A new insider report suggests they intend on taking it too.
One of the main ways the Lakers can secure a bright future with Doncic will be through free agency. Even so, not all of their problems can truly be solved through that means. Pelinka and the front office need to utilize the trade market too. Dan Woike and Sam Amick reported that is a part of the plan.
Amick and Woike wrote: "Team and league sources have said they expect the Lakers to be aggressive on the trade market. ... There’s internal confidence that pathways toward an optimized roster for Doncic will reveal themselves.
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The rumor mill has promised an aggressive approach from the Lakers before, and let fans down. However, armed with multiple tradeable first-round picks, cap space, and contracts for salary-matching, LA fans must hope that this time around they will see moves materialize.
Lakers cannot solve all their problems via free agency
Yes, the Lakers do have money to spend in free agency. However, they also have multiple players on the roster who they would like to bring back. Austin Reaves, LeBron James, and Rui Hachimura are just a few of those names.
Those type of moves should still allow the Lakers to make upgrades on the open market. Despite that, there will be a clear finite limit to what they can do via free agency, and it will likely catch up to Pelinka faster than Los Angeles fans may realize.
That means the Lakers need to exercise all options to field a roster that can rival that of teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference. This is where the trade options come in.
There should be two main priorities for the Lakers this summer in terms of new additions: a starting center who is adept at producing on both ends and a starting wing who can play two-way basketball.
Both of those players can be found in free agency. Only of them would likely be the recipient of the Lakers' offseason bag, though.
Whichever one of those needs cannot be filled via free agency should be addressed on the trade market. That is why Lakers fans will be hoping oh so desperately that Amick and Woike are correct in their assessment of the franchise's aggression levels.
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