Into the Offseason: 3 Wishes for the L.A. Lakers
With a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work, the Lakers could be back to championship form next season.
By Nick M.W.
What do they need to remain competetive next season?
ast season was a wild ride for the Lakers. They started the season in the swamp, a rotting carcass of a once top tier team. They had a new coach sliding into his first ever role as a head coach. They had an aging superstar seemingly focused on cementing himself as the all-time leading scorer (because there was nothing else going on with the team). They had a physically fragile star with questionable mental fortitude. They had Westbrick. They didn’t have 3-point shooting in a league still dominated by the shot. They were a frustrating, hopeless mess.
Things changed in February, and a team hovering around the 13th seed stormed their way to the Western Conference Finals, beating the defending champs along the way to losing to the eventual champs.
Wild shit.
Congratulations to the Denver Nuggets on winning their first NBA championship. To start the season, there were nine other teams with better odds to win it all than the Nuggets. Here’s DraftKings Sportsbook pre-season list of favorites:
Golden State Warriors: +600
Boston Celtics: +600
Brooklyn Nets: +600
Los Angeles Clippers: +600
Milwaukee Bucks: +750
Phoenix Suns: +900
Miami Heat: +1400
Philadelphia 76ers: +1400
Memphis Grizzlies: +1400
Denver Nuggets: +1500
The Nuggets and their fans deserved to talk all that smack during their celebration, and they can run their mouths all season long. You earned it.
It sucks being on the other side of all that, especially since they crushed my Lakers. The Nuggets are going to roll into next season as the favorites to repeat. They’re returning most of their roster (right?). Even if they swapped out a dude or two, they still have Jokic, so why wouldn’t they be able to run it back?
Because weird stuff happens.
Pre-season fist fights, behind the scenes scandals, in-season trades, and postseason magic are all variables that factor into any team’s failure or success. Winning changes things.
Other than Denver being really good again, it’s a bit too early in the off-season to make any predictions about how next season will play out. The Draft just wrapped, and Victor Wenbanyama went #1 to the Spurs, so it’s not a stretch to say that they’ll be better than they were last season. A couple of teams made pre-Draft trades: the Suns sent Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, and several picks to the Wizards for Bradley Beal. Then, the Wizards sent Chris Paul to the Warriors for Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins (who?), and a couple of picks. The Celtics traded away Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies and traded for Kristaps Porzingis. There’s been some movement, but there’s so much more that’s going to happen before the season even starts. Let’s chill on the speculative hype for now.
Darvin Ham and his coaching staff did a great job last season during the first half by keeping the wheels on this, a team that was built to fall apart. The coaching staff did a remarkable job of guiding a revitalized roster after the trade deadline all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Sure, they were destroyed by the Nuggets in a 4-game sweep, and that was disappointing, but it was an incredible turnaround for a team that absolutely stunk it up out of the gates. There’s a good chance now that Coach Ham and his staff will be able to run it back with most of the roster that turned last year’s Lakers from the 13th seed, looking up at the playoffs from the bottom of the conference, to a team that was four wins away from the Finals.
The Lakers need make some moves to capitalize on the short window they have with the LeBron and AD tandem, which means operating over the cap.
Here’s what I would like to have happen for my Lakers during this off-season:
My 3 Wishes for Los Lakers
1. Re-sign Reaves and Rui
Rui and Reaves.
This is the most important move the Lakers should make this season, but it will be costly. It seems like the team will have to match some other team’s high offer if they want to keep Reaves in purple and gold. I think rival teams will drive up the price on Reaves and force the Lakers to pay him something like 4 years at $100 million instead of 4 years at half that price.
The Lakers should invest in him, but I’m not sure they’ll meet the maximum offer in favor of spreading that money across more players’ contracts. I think they need exactly what Reaves brings, but I’m also not sure if he’s already hit his ceiling. He’s probably worth the money and the risk, though.
Rui is a must, too, because he matches up well with other wing players with size and length, like Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., or Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. He was a big reason why the Lakers were able to turn their season around, and he ended up being the most consistent player that they acquired at the trade deadline.
2. Upgrade the 3-point shooting
D. Russ, Fred Van Vleet, Patty Mills, and Malik Monk could be 3-point shooting options.
This might come at D’Angelo Russell’s expense. He was one of the great additions to the team at the trade deadline, but he was inconsistent in the playoffs (not the only Laker to play like this), and he was non-existent against the Nuggets. Is he worth the money? Not if it means passing on Reaves and Rui. Pay those guys first or work out a team-friendly extension that allows the Lakers to bring the R&R duo back.
Coincidentally, Kyrie Irving is one of the best free agent 3-point shooters available this offseason, but I don’t think signing him is the right way address the Lakers 3-point shooting needs. I’m thinking Patty Mills or bringing back Malik Monk.
It could be that a re-signed Reaves and Russell improve their 3-point shooting. I would hope that if you pay someone to play the best basketball that they can play, that they would work on the parts of their game that are the weakest. This is where I think Reaves is worth the money because I think he will get better. I’m not sure D’Angelo will. However, spending some money on a mid-level player contract to upgrade here will be a worthwhile investment.
3. AD gets motivated
Any future success the Lakers have begins with AD being great every night.
I’m talking “best hoop of his career” level motivation. That’s the part of his game that’s 100% in control but seems like it’s not always been given 100% of his attention. He has the skills to be as dominant as Nikola Jokic is every night he plays, but he hasn’t shown the same heart. The playoff stretch he had in the 202 Bubble is a small sample size of what a hungry AD can do, which is kill you on the offensive side any which way and shut you down completely on the defensive side.
He can’t help it if he gets hurt, and that’s been an issue everyone who follows the NBA is well-aware of. He also can’t worry about it. He just has to go out there and play hard every night. It might be that playing free of doubt prevents him from getting hurt. It might be that it doesn’t really matter much, but if AD is motivated to play at a high level and carry the Lakers to the Finals, I believe that he can do that.
Will he, though?
We are months away from meaningful pro-basketball, so it’ll be a minute before I return with my 2023–2024 NBA season predictions. I don’t think I’ll be picking the Clippers ever again, and that might be just the type of good luck they need to surprise me at win it all. For now, I just wish that the Lakers will make moves to remain consistent and competitive for the remaining couple of years of their two stars’ contracts.
Enjoy your summer!
