After a disappointing start to the 2022-23 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers turned it around with smart trades and roster moves to make it to the Western Conference Finals.
The roster is looking light moving into next season, with just five players under contract. As such, there has been a lot of speculation about how they will go about building around LeBron James and Anthony Davis this time. And Adrian Wojnarowski recently provided a detailed update on the franchise’s summer plans.
“It starts with keeping the players they have and the two young players – one they acquired Rui Hachimura in the trade with Washington and Austin Reaves who they brought in and have developed. They’re both restricted free agents,” Wojnarowski said on ESPN.
“I think their number one goal is they’re not letting either of those two out of the building. They’re going to match offer sheets for them or see if they can get an extension on either of them. D’Angelo Russell – can they get to a contract number that makes sense for them as their point guard – another player they picked up at the trade deadline.”
The Lakers managed to achieve success last season after putting a deep roster around James and Davis. The Lakers had a 25-30 record at the trade deadline before making a flurry of moves that saw them close the season on an 18-9 run and achieve a record of 43-39. The plan seems to be to do something similar again, although there are talks about a splashy move for a superstar as well.
The Los Angeles Lakers Are Not Looking To Land A Superstar, Says Adrian Wojnarowski
The Los Angeles Lakers are always linked with moves for superstars, and Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, and Zach LaVine have already been mentioned this summer. Chris Paul is another one being talked about although he isn’t at a superstar level anymore. Woj also spoke in the interview about Paul and a potential 3rd superstar.
“Then they’ve got their exception. They can go out in free agency and get another player who could be helpful. Is Chris Paul going to be available in free agency – whether he gets waived in Phoenix or traded and waived somewhere else as part of another deal? I think staying in Los Angeles where he’s got his home for Chris Paul the Lakers, the Clippers are going to be prominent in that conversation.
“But there’s no big game hunting for this Laker organization. In this league right now with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, you can’t really have three max contracts, three superstars and expect to have any depth on your roster. It’s going to look a lot the same.”
The Russell Westbrook experiment has surely taught the Lakers that a good roster is more valuable than a third star. If they can get Chris Paul for cheap, that would be a good pickup, but retaining their key role players and adding more quality to the roster seems to be the way forward for this team.
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