Jordan Goodwin became an unfortunate casualty of the Los Angeles Lakers acquiring Marcus Smart after his buyout from the Washington Wizards. In doing so, Rob Pelinka and the front office may have discarded a hidden gem who fit their team perfectly.
Goodwin was a feel-good story for the Lakers in 2024-25. The 26-year-old arrived in Los Angeles with a two-way contract and immediately made an impact, fighting his way into JJ Redick's rotation. By the end of the regular season, the Lakers guard was upgraded to a standard NBA deal.
Goodwin averaged 5.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.0 steal during 18.7 minutes per game in 29 appearances off the Lakers bench. The shooting splits of 44-38-82 were very encouraging. There was room for growth within Redick's system.
The Lakers will never see the results of that potential. His non-guaranteed salary made him too obvious of a candidate to cut for financial purposes. Now with the Phoenix Suns, Goodwin will give the Lakers a close look from a division rival at exactly what they missed out on.
Goodwin’s impact with Suns will highlight a costly Lakers' miscalculation
Goodwin should be afforded plenty of opportunity for a Suns team that will enter 2025-26 rather lackluster. However, it is for that same reason the growth and development of the tenacious defensive guard may not look the same as it would have in Los Angeles.
The Lakers have more competition for minutes, but they also would have offered more structure around Goodwin to thrive. In particular, feeding off Luka Doncic and the easy looks created by the Slovenian superstar is always a recipe for 3-and-D players to excel in their roles.
Jovan Buha identified giving up on Goodwin as a move that could find its way into the company of some of the other recent disasters for the Lakers front office. Moving on from Alex Caruso and Ivica Zubac were the two main examples highlighted.
Buha said, "The Lakers should have tried to find other ways to keep him on the roster and clear cap space in a different way. ... He's better than the last few players on the roster and would have been in contention for a backend rotation spot."
By comparison to Caruso and Zubac setting the scale, the Lakers reporter deemed the move as a two out of five in terms of its disaster levels. However, the potential to grow into a two and a half, or three, was certainly there.
Missing Goodwin will not make or break the upcoming campaign. Even so, it certainly removes a talented player and strong fit from a team dreaming of a championship. That is not a step in the right direction.