The Los Angeles Lakers continue to make moves this offseason as the team looks to rebound from their terrible 2021-22 season. The Lakers hit rock bottom last season, and one can argue it was among the most disappointing seasons in their storied history.
Injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis played a role in that failure of epic proportions, but they weren’t particularly good even when the two big guns were on the court. A lot of the blame for their struggles fell on the feet of Russell Westbrook, who had been acquired via trade as he failed to fit in, and all of that, combined with an aging roster, meant they only managed to win 33 games. They have addressed that last issue at least, by acquiring players under 30, for the most part, this offseason, with the latest to arrive being Dennis Schroder.
NBA Analyst Roasts The Lakers For The Comedy Of Errors That Led To Them Re-Signing Dennis Schroder
While it is certainly a good move, with Schroder returning to the Lakers after playing for them in 2020-21, everything that has led up to this moment can best be summarised as being a comedy of errors. The Lakers have made some terrible decisions these last couple of years, and Andy Kamenetzky pointed out just how we got to this point.
So the Lakers gave up a first to get Schröder… then tried their damndest to overpay him… the failure of which directly led to the Westbrook trade… and now have Schröder on a vet min and are debating whether to bleed more firsts to move Russ. That's a 30 for 30, man. AK
— Kamenetzky Brothers (@KamBrothers) September 16, 2022
“So the Lakers gave up a first to get Schröder… then tried their damndest to overpay him… the failure of which directly led to the Westbrook trade… and now have Schröder on a vet min and are debating whether to bleed more firsts to move Russ. That’s a 30 for 30, man. AK”
It is hilarious to see how badly they have botched it. The Lakers dodged a bullet when Schroder declined their 4-year, $84 million extension offer in 2021 as he was clearly not worth that much money. That was proven by the fact that he only got a 1-year, $5.9m deal in that offseason, and just a year later, he is signed on the veteran’s minimum.
This stroke of luck was offset by them foolishly trading for Russ to replace Schroder, which left them stuck in a worse position than they’d have been if the German had accepted that deal. Now they have to give up draft picks to get rid of Westbrook, but there isn’t a deal on the table that they like, which has led to Russ remaining with the team. This was a team that won it all in 2020, and just two years later, they are having to retool their entire roster because of gross mismanagement. It is a fine case study on how not to go about doing things in the NBA.
