The Los Angeles Lakers have had one of the busiest offseasons this summer in terms of roster moves.
When the Lakers traded for star guard Russell Westbrook, the roster was trimmed to five players, though Alfonzo McKinnie is now waived. The Lakers needed to sign about 10 players through free agency to complete the 15-man squad.
Los Angeles didn’t have financial flexibility this summer to acquire the prominent names available in the free-agent class besides a $5.9 taxpayer MLE; so the Lakers desperately needed to lure veterans who would take the minimum.
The Lakers achieved that by signing Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza and Kent Bazemore on one-year minimum deals.
Even Malik Monk, 23, signed a minimum deal to compete for a championship and raise his value for next year’s free agency; he could be the most intriguing signing of the bunch. Kendrick Nunn, 26, signed for the MLE.
Los Angeles needed to surround LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook with a competent roster capable of filling in the gaps, and this group of players has recently shown they have the right combination of skills to execute on the court, at least on paper.
With these moves, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report listed the Lakers as one of the winners of the 2021 free agency period:
“Trading for Russell Westbrook has defined the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason, but that’s not the entirety of it. They made other moves on the margins during actual free agency, and their roster makes more sense because of it.
Bagging Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Wayne Ellington and Malik Monk on minimum deals will beef up the spacing of a half-court offense that desperately needs breathing room. They are snipers of varying effectiveness and function — Ellington prefers to work in motion — but the Lakers jettisoned their two leading 3-point makers from last season (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma) to nab Westbrook, one of the league’s worst jump shooters. Adding even league-average marksmen goes a long way under the circumstances.
Kendrick Nunn is a more awkward fit as someone who prefers to operate on-ball, but he provides more north-south jet fuel and converted 42.1% of his catch-and-fire triples last season. Snagging him for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception is a worthwhile talent-in-a-vacuum play.
Dwight Howard does nothing for the Lakers’ floor balance, but he comes cheap, has experience playing beside Anthony Davis and is a muuuch better rim-runner than Andre Drummond. Talen Horton-Tucker’s return also doesn’t help Los Angeles’ shooting, but a 20-year-old who can defend a bunch of different positions has value to a team that’s nearly barren of every other future asset.
None of these moves turn the Westbrook acquisition into a no-risk proposition. Nor does it excuse the Lakers decision to let Alex Caruso walk, despite his chemistry playing beside LeBron James and having the ability to keep him. But Los Angeles entered free agency with supremely limited flexibility following the Westbrook blockbuster and managed to flesh out its rotation in a way that promises actual depth and spacing.
Additionally, as of now, the list of Lakers moves doesn’t include overpaying Dennis Schroder. That’s a huge win.”
This will be one of the most captivating seasons for L.A. in quite some time, but only time will tell if L.A. made the right moves to bring home the franchise’s 18th championship, which would be the most for a single team in NBA history.
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