The Los Angeles Lakers are doing everything they can to build a contender around LeBron James, but the process hasn’t been easy. Across the league, sentiment is rising that the Purple and Gold just don’t have enough to compete and league insider Zach Lowe was the latest to make that cade on ‘Get Up’ this week.
“What is the move you want Rob Pelinka to make to turn this team that won one playoff game into a team that can win 12 playoff games against juggernaut after juggernaut in the West. DeMar DeRozan and Tyus Jones… Those guys don’t close the gap between the Lakers and the Thunder, Wolves, the Nuggets, and the Mavericks. Even that is not enough. They’re a good team in the Western Conference. … There’s a big gap between a good team and a great team and I’m not sure how they can close it.”
"They're a good team in the Western Conference. … There's a big gap between a good team and a great team and I'm not sure how they can close it."
—@ZachLowe_NBA on the Lakers 👀 pic.twitter.com/FoXO4tiYeu
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) July 4, 2024
With LeBron James and Antony Davis, the Lakers won the championship in 2020 and they’ve been trying to recapture that success ever since. While LeBron and Davis have remained, everything else is still relatively new including the head coach JJ Redick, who has yet to experience a single game as a coach in the league.
After finishing 7th in the West last season, and losing in 5 games to the Nuggets in the first round, Lakers fans were begging Rob Pelinka to make a move and scrape whatever assets he could to attract big-name players like Paul George or Klay Thompson.
Instead, the Lakers have struck out on most of their pursuits so far. From Dan Hurley to Buddy Hield, the Lakers have been rejected multiple times this summer and it makes you wonder why so many people have elected not to join them in their current state.
Currently, the Lakers are slated to bring back nearly the exact same roster as last year except with two new rookies (Bronny and Dalton) who will probably not be in the rotation for most of the season. 39-year-old Lebron James will again be tasked to lead his team and it remains to be seen if Anthony Davis can stay healthy long enough to keep the team relevant in the West.
Even beyond the stars, most teams in the West are deeper at every position, including the Thunder, Clippers, Nuggets, Mavericks, and Minnesota Timberwolves. To keep up with those teams, the Lakers will need some upgrades to the supporting cast and they’ll some players who can reliably fill their role when the pressure is highest,
With the way that this summer is going, however, the Lakers may just have to accept where they are. After signing a new max deal with the team, it seems LeBron (a 4x champion) has seen the writing on the wall and he’s ready to focus on Bronny’s development over trying to carry this roster to a first-round exit.
With several negotiations still in the works, it’s not too late for the Lakers to pull off a move but at this point whoever they bring in will not be nearly enough to make them favorites in the conference. It will take nothing short of a miracle for the Lakers to make a run next year and the path to getting there looks more difficult than ever for the 17x champions.
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