The Los Angeles Lakers had a polarizing offseason of both adding new talents and losing former fan favorites. Many fans have been critical of the offseason due to the team looking worse talent for talent compared to last year’s roster. It appears that members of the Lakers’ front office agree with this assessment, but they also believe it will help them in the long-term NBA future.
Lakers’ Insider Jovan Buha revealed the following from an inside source:
“More often than not, there was an acknowledgment that we might have taken a step back this season. You could argue that, on paper, we don’t have the same top-end talent. We lost LeBron, we lost good players in Marcus and Rui and Luke, and we understand why some people are down on the offseason, why some people feel that we’ve taken a step back.
But this is about the longer-term vision here. You’re building this core from the ground up around Luka and Austin and having these guys in their mid-20s all together to build out the next 3-5 years or so with this core.”
The thought process from the Lakers side is that they were willing to sacrifice some talent from last season to this one in exchange for having many more years of success. Moves like extending Austin Reaves on a huge contract and trading for Walker Kessler were done to set up five years of success compared to one run.
Which Moves Hurt The Lakers Summer?
The source even named players that they felt the Lakers would struggle from losing. LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Luke Kennard are all valued players that helped last season to leave the team this summer.
The Lakers added Colin Sexton and Quentin Grimes as the other major pieces behind Kessler as offseason additions. Other secondary moves helped the Lakers field together a roster, and they’re still hoping to have a chance at free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga.
LeBron stands out as the biggest name from either side of that list to see the Lakers clearly taking a step back in terms of pure talent. However, it was also done as a strategic move that the Lakers believe will help them contend for the entire Luka Doncic timeline.
Why The Lakers Made These Moves
The Lakers ensured that they would have more youth on the roster moving forward after years of being one of the oldest rosters in the league. Everything was done this season with the intent of building a roster around Doncic’s strengths and weaknesses.
Kessler serves as the requested center that Doncic hoped the Lakers would add this season since he needs a great big man in the paint. The Lakers essentially mimicked what the Dallas Mavericks did a couple of years ago when they reached the NBA Finals.
Most other players to join the team this summer are younger or provide the things that a NBA team built around Doncic needs to succeed. This gives the Lakers more confidence that they are building something special for now and beyond as opposed to going all in on one season with last year’s roster.
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