The Los Angeles Lakers have not made any significant moves this offseason and it would appear it’s not just the fanbase that’s a bit upset about that. Former Laker Robert Horry visited the Philippines recently, where he was asked to share his thoughts about the team’s offseason and he didn’t try to hide his disappointment.
“I’m really disappointed they weren’t able to make any moves as far as like adding another veteran piece,” Horry said. “And when I say that, that’s not pointing the finger at them because sometimes guys just don’t want to come to L.A. Sometimes guys don’t want to pay all those taxes.
“Even though they got some good draft picks, when you’re in a position to make real moves in the NBA, you’ve got to make some real moves,” Horry continued. “Think about what the (Boston) Celtics did, getting (Kristaps) Porzingis to push themselves up to the top. You look at what the Milwaukee Bucks had done last year, getting a new coach and new players.
“For me, the only team that really made major moves because they know what they needed was OKC,” Horry added. “If you think about OKC, they added everything that they needed, and so, for me, that is the team to beat. I know you didn’t ask that question, but I’m trying to just show you how you gotta add pieces in the offseason. If you don’t win a chip, you got to assess your teams in the sense of what do we need.”
As Horry, 54, stated, you must strengthen the roster in the offseason if you had come up short the season before. The Oklahoma City Thunder have done just that by bringing in the likes of Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein and are a real threat to win it all next season.
The Lakers, meanwhile, have done next to nothing after being eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, and as a result, are not being talked about as a serious contender. The only additions made to their roster from last season are Dalton Knecht, Bronny James, and Christian Koloko.
Knecht and James are rookies and while the former is held in high regard, I doubt he is going to be a game-changer in his very first season. Koloko, meanwhile, hasn’t played an NBA game in over a year due to a blood clot issue. He is someone who has a lot of potential, but you wonder how effective he will be in 2024-25.
While Knecht, James, and Koloko could turn out to be good to great players in the future, what the Lakers desperately need, are players who are good to good to great now. Their title window isn’t all that big with LeBron James being 39 years old and they need to make moves to maximize their chances of winning now.
The Lakers have multiple first-round picks that they can trade but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. It doesn’t look like they want to go all in and while I can understand wanting to keep an eye on the future, they’re all but ensuring that the LeBron era ends with a whimper by heading down this route.
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