It is safe to say this was not the season the Los Angeles Lakers envisioned coming into the year. Last summer, LA's front office seemed to be ahead of the game. They made some seemingly brilliant moves in re-signing many of their key players including Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt, while also adding key reserves like Christian Wood.
But as the year wore on, injuries and lineup inconsistencies were a few of the big factors that led this team to struggle. Despite LeBron James still performing at an All-Star level and Anthony Davis having one of the best seasons of his career, the Lakers were still limping to the finish line, needing a Play-In victory to even make it into the playoffs.
And once they got there, it was their worst nightmare in facing the defending champions once again. After being knocked out by the Nuggets two seasons in a row, LA will have to do some major soul-searching this summer, and there are a few players on the roster who will almost certainly not be back for next season.
1. Spencer Dinwiddie
A lot of NBA coaches will say that finding an identity is important. Having a set mindset of how you want to play matters a lot, and that is something the Lakers pretty clearly lacked all season. Something that contributed to this being the case was losing their newly acquired backup point guard right at the start of the year.
LA invested pretty heavily in Gabe Vincent, signing him to a three-year, $33 million deal this past offseason after seeing his solid contributions with the Miami Heat. But just four games into the season, Vincent went down with a knee injury that he would later undergo surgery for, keeping him off the court until his ultimate return on March 31.
With Gabe on the sidelines, the Lakers needed an additional ball-handler, and they signed Spencer Dinwiddie as a temporary replacement. He has had a few one-off games of hot shooting this season, but the front office will not be looking at him as any kind of long-term fixture with this team.
2. Taurean Prince
After an improbable run to the Western Conference Finals last season, the Lakers made it a priority to get most of their same group from the 2022-23 season back. Reserves that were further down the bench like Lonnie Walker, Thomas Bryant, and Mo Bamba did not return, but the main core responsible for their playoff run did.
Arguably the biggest free agent pickup LA made last summer was acquiring Taurean Prince. Previously with the Timberwolves, Prince had built a strong reputation as a solid three-and-D guy. He was big for Minnesota as a switchable defender that could shoot the three ball as well as attack closeouts. Getting him in Los Angeles on a one-year, $4.5 million contract was a no-brainer.
The short-term deal made a lot of sense for the Lakers. They would have Prince around for a season to see how he worked with their already-established core. Taurean was clearly far from a failure this season in shooting over 39% from three, but he was perhaps not always utilized correctly.
For around half the season, Head Coach Darvin Ham played Prince at the starting power forward spot, rather than rolling with the more defensive lineup involving Jarred Vanderbilt that brought them so much success the previous season. It was the first time Taurean was in a regular starting role in four seasons.
As such, his effectiveness was not maximized and fans certainly did not seem thrilled with his heavy minutes throughout the season. There is virtually no chance the Lakers opt to re-sign him in the offseason.
3. Max Christie
One of the reasons first-round picks have always been so valuable in the NBA is that second-round picks are so much more difficult to find legitimate talent with. So it is not all that surprising that the Lakers' 35th-overall selection from the 2022 draft, Max Christie, has yet to pan out.
Looking for a three-and-D prospect that could one day become a rotation player, LA picked the freshman out of Michigan State due to his elite feel for the game and intangibles. Nothing about him screamed physically imposing or lightning quick/athletic, but he very much looked and felt like a guy that could make a living in the NBA in the right situation.
There is still time for Max to get there, but his progress has not necessarily picked up as quickly as the Lakers would have liked. His confidence seems to have fluctuated, and his decision-making is still so-so. Nothing about his per-game stats really jumps off the page, and his second season was relatively similar to his first.
Christie's rookie contract with LA was for two years and worth $2.7 million. With the Lakers needing to focus nearly all of their payroll toward winning now while their title window is still theoretically open, it is very likely they let Max find a new home this summer.
4. D'Angelo Russell
And now for the elephant in the room. D'Angelo Russell was a surprise addition to this team just over 14 months ago, and there were of course mixed feelings from the fanbase about bringing him back on board. But in the end, it was satisfying to put the Russell Westbrook era to an end, and the fact that D'Lo was drafted by the Lakers was enough to drum up some excitement about having him around again.
The thing that has always plagued Russell the most and limited him as a player is his inconsistency. It was one of the reasons the team parted ways with him the first time, more than half a decade ago, and the same reason why he falls onto this list now. Throughout the first half of the year, it was much of the same story for D'Angelo.
But as trade deadline season came around, D'Lo's level of play picked up, perhaps in response to trade rumors, and he enjoyed a long stretch of solid play to end the regular season. When the first round of the playoffs began, he was up and down once again. Russell's best playoff game in recent memory came in Game 2 against Denver, sandwiched between one underwhelming outing and one absolute stinker in Game 3, where he went 0-for-7 with zero points.
The Lakers were willing to forgive D'Lo's bad performance against the Nuggets in the 2023 playoffs if he could come up big for them this time around. He seemed to believe he could do it. "I've been dominating the season all year, so for me to have a game off when everyone is watching, of course it's going to be magnified," said Russell. "You see what I did in the second game, and I'm looking forward to doing it the third game."
His confidence is admirable, but the Lakers faithful watched him miss shot after shot at Crypto.com Arena en route to LA's third consecutive loss in the series. When the team needed him to be a big x-factor most, he was nowhere to be found. If there was any question about his future in Los Angeles before the playoffs began, nearly all doubt should be removed now.