The Los Angeles Lakers have undoubtedly been busy this summer with their slew of talent acquisitions.
From scooping up Deandre Ayton following his buyout with the Trail Blazers to signing 3&D wing Jake LaRavia to a steal of a deal via the MLE, LA's roster has certainly seen its fair share of improvements since their first-round playoff ouster.
However, recently, they found themselves missing out on a particular individual who, if attained, could have brought their offseason report card from a middle-of-the-pack letter grade to an A in one fell swoop.
Earlier this week, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania was first to report that Bradley Beal had agreed to a contract buyout with the Suns and is set to join the Clippers for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
Throughout the weeks leading up to this news break, several teams were rumored to have been keeping tabs on the three-time All-Star's situation in Phoenix, the Lakers being one of them.
Following Beal's decision to bypass LeBron James and company and sign with their cross-city rivals, many have become quite vocal about how Los Angeles may have ultimately dodged a bullet with avoiding the signing of the veteran. Some have even argued that this decision by the Clippers could go down as the worst of the entire offseason.
Of course, such talking points may be the result of raw emotions and the sour taste of Beal's reluctance to sign with the Lakers this summer, for, objectively speaking, his addition could have actually been a tremendous boon for the ball club.
Lakers would have greatly benefited from Bradley Beal signing
Sure, the Lakers already have the proper amount of star power to potentially win an NBA title as is with the likes of James and Luka Doncic leading the charge. That said, let's not pretend that their supporting cast is anywhere close to championship-worthy, particularly when it comes to their bench unit.
Last season, Los Angeles sported the second-worst bench scoring punch in the entire league with 26.2 points per game and the third-worst offensive rating of 50.0. During their ill-fated postseason run, they dropped down even further to just 11.0 points per game (worst in the league) and 39.0, respectively.
Though Bradley Beal may be personally interested in trying to recapture his All-Star level of play and, thus, may be viewed as more of a threat to serve as a starting option rather than a second unit spark plug, it's important to understand that he's also attempting to convince the league that he's capable of aiding toward winning ways -- something he hasn't done much of throughout his 13-year career.
Filling in as a sixth man for the winningest franchise in NBA history on a roster that's currently eyeing title number 19 could have been a great way for him to do that, especially when considering all eyes are slated to be on this team next season, what with the rumors circulating that it could be LeBron's last.
For a team in desperate need of adding offensive firepower off the pine like the Lakers, a proven 30-plus point per game scorer like Beal into the mix would have been a major get.
Throughout his entire professional tenure, the 32-year-old sports impressive averages of 21.5 points on 46.4 percent shooting from the floor and 37.6 percent shooting from deep.
Now, while his production undeniably dropped over the last couple of seasons while playing with the Suns (17.6 points per game), it's important to realize that he was operating alongside two other score-first studs in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and without being accompanied by a legitimate set-up artist to help get him clean looks.
Yes, both LeBron and Luka are ball-dominant players who enjoy racking in points of their own, but they're well known for thriving in the distribution department, with the former averaging 7.4 assists per game for his career while the latter finds himself dropping 8.2.
If Beal were to have suited up alongside these two, it could have easily had him finding some of the cleanest scoring looks of his career, which, when coupled with his elite isolation game, would have been a godsend to have coming off the bench.
Add all of this to the fact that, in the end, it only cost the Clippers $11 million over two years to lock down his services, and it only strengthens the fact that, had he opted to ink a deal with the far more famous Los Angeles-based team instead, the Lakers would have gotten a steal of a player who, in theory, could have addressed arguably their greatest weakness of bench scoring.