After a dismal start to the previous year, the Lakers strengthened their lineup by making many acquisitions during the trade deadline.
NBA writer Mark Medina thinks that this team, which won a championship in 2019–2020, may be the best LeBron James and Anthony Davis have ever played with.
LeBron and AD are still the team’s main stars, but they are a serious challenger because of the depth and consistency of the present lineup as well as the potential contributions of supporting players. If the roster reaches its full potential, only time will tell.
The Los Angeles Lakers have completely redesigned their roster since the trade deadline of the previous season. After a series of free-agency moves, NBA writer Mark Medina thinks that, at least theoretically, this group built around LeBron James and Anthony Davis may be the best to have assembled during their time there, surpassing even the squad that won the Lakers’ 17th NBA championship in 2019–20.
This season’s Lakers roster begun to take shape at last season’s trade deadline. After an abysmal 2-10 start and virtually zero on-court chemistry between their big three of Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, something had to give if the Purple and Gold were going to pull off a miracle and make the playoffs, or the play-in tournament at the very least. They simply could not ill afford to miss them for a second consecutive season and waste another year of James’ career, especially not in his 20th season in the league.
With the February trade deadline looming, the front-office decided that enough was enough and gambled on a series of moves which transcended the Lakers almost overnight into becoming one of the top teams in the league. In their first move, they opted to move on from Kendrick Nunn, who featured only 39 times for the LakeShow and averaged just under 14 minutes per game, trading him to the Washington Wizards which brought Japanese-born forward Rui Hachimura to the City of Angels. After an impressive showing since his arrival to LA, they ensured they committed him for the long-haul, signing him to a three-year, $51 million deal during free-agency.
At this point, one problem still remained, Russell Westbrook was still on the roster, and he was a piece of the roster that they desperately needed to get part ways with. Their wishes were granted, and right before the deadline, the former MVP was traded to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade which saw a reunion with D’Angelo Russell, who last played for the organization in 2017, and with him, he brought Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. While Beasley has since moved on to the Milwaukee Bucks, D’Lo and Vando were retained in free-agency, inking a two-year, $37 million contract, and four-year, $48 million contract, respectively.
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