The Los Angeles Lakers had a very disappointing season. They finished as the 7th seed in the Western Conference and were knocked out of the first round by the eventual West champion Phoenix Suns. It was a season derailed by injury for the Lakers and now they have a lot of questions for the roster as the head into the offseason. What to do about the restricted free agency of Talen Horton-Tucker? What about Dennis Schorder? Is Montrezl Harrell going to opt in?
The Lakers know one thing for sure; Andre Drummond will not return, he does not seem happy based on an Instagram comment saying “tell your coach to play me more” when a Lakers fan commented saying that Drummond should be a better low post player. The Lakers should not want Drummond back next season anyways, as he was horrific in the Suns series, eventually getting benched in favor of Marc Gasol. The floor spacing with him and Anthony Davis was an issue.
One guy the Lakers should want back, no matter what Twitter tells you, is Dennis Schroder. Schroder was acquired in November in exchange for Danny Green and the 28th pick (Jaden McDaniels) after finishing as the runner up in sixth man of the year voting with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019-20, falling short to Montrezl Harrell (more on him later). While Schroder did take a step back he is still about as good as the Lakers are going to be able to do, as they own his bird rights and they are over the cap so they cannot replace him very easily. Schroder reportedly wants something in the $110 million range but that seems a little too pricey for me. I like him at 4yrs/$90 million or so. That seems like a reasonable price at $22.5 million per year, a price both sides can be happy with. Losing your starting point guard for nothing when you want to be competing for championships is not a very smart way to go about your business.
Talen Horton-Tucker was deemed untouchable at the trade deadline as the Lakers were looking to acquire Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. A restricted free agent, Horton-Tucker had a nice second season for the Lakers averaging 9.0 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.6 rebounds. What is the price range of THT? Teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic would definitely be interested, as Horton-Tucker fits their timeline as he is 20 years old. The improvements THT made throughout the season were very clear and he is very important to what the Lakers are going to want to achieve in 2022, another player you would think LA resigns. However, you would assume THT is a very wanted man amongst all of the NBA teams, a 3 and D wing who is just 20, everyone wants that.
Montrezl Harrell’s 2021-22 return to the Lakers is a question mark. The 2020 sixth man of the year, whom the Lakers signed in November, has a $9.7 million player option that I think he is going to opt out of. He did not play very much in the postseason and will likely seek new opportunities. However he may opt-in, the market might not be there for an undersized center who is best off the bench, who also does not shoot, more of an energy guy. If Harrell opted in I would advise the Lakers to keep him as I think he was a nice energy guy off the bench (of course a trade if they feel they upgrade is always an option). Though, if Harrell did hit the open market, I think LA would let him walk, the Hornets were reportedly very interested last season and that interest may still exist and I think he Toronto Raptors are a team to look out for as he would be a good fit off of their bench, and he fits the mold of guys who were doubted.
Marc Gasol is another player who has a return question mark, though for a different reason. Gasol struggled a lot last season but looked like the best Lakers center (not named Anthony Davis) in the first round loss to the Suns. He was a good floor spacer for AD to be allowed to operate in the post. Gasol is also under contract for next season so an NBA team would not be a concern. The Lakers' concern would be if he were to go home to Spain and play for FC Barcelona Bàsquet, the same team his brother plays for in Barcelona. That might just be the case as he would probably make a lot more money playing overseas. Another thing General Manager Rob Pelinka will explore are the prospects of a trade.
One way the Lakers can upgrade their roster through trade is by packaging Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and the 22nd pick. KCP and Kuzma are on the books for a combined $26 million dollars so you could get a player who makes around that price range. Some options are Harrison Barnes, Andrew Wiggins, and Kevin Love. I really like the Barnes fit but Sacramento might be asking for too much. As a result, they are more likely to explore sign and trade options. They could send KCP and Kuzma to the Spurs for DeMar DeRozan. A lineup of Schroder, DeRozan, LeBron James, AD, and a center would be a line up that could win a championship and in the playoffs when AD goes to center, Talen Horton-Tucker could enter. The Spurs would make this trade so they could get something for DeRozan, and add a good young player in Kyle Kuzma.
The Lakers can also upgrade their roster using the 22nd pick, some guys projected to go in that area that could help them are; Chris Duarte from Oregon, Cameron Thomas from LSU, Jared Butler from Baylor, and Zhaire Williams from Stanford. I would take Thomas out of that group because he is the best shooter of the bunch and he can make other kinds of shots as well. The Lakers will also have some kind of mid-level exception, whether that is the taxpayer (which is about $5.8 million) or the non-taxpayer (which is about $9.5 million). If the Lakers were to use the full $9.5 mid level exception it would hard cap the team so depending on where the Lakers would want to go with their roster, they would need to decide on which exception to use.
The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of questions surrounding their roster. However, that does not change the fact that they should be really good next season. When you have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on your roster, that is usually going to be the case. They are going to be a better team next season as they should have their 2 best players back and healthy. The Lakers won a championship just last season and while this season was disappointing, they should be right back into the thick of the Western Conference in 2022.
Comments