The talk of the offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers will be who they land as a third-star. However, there are other moves the front office can make to better this roster. Exploring the “top players to target,” Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report listed Andre Drummond as a player the Lakers should target.
“The Lakers landed Andre Drummond on the buyout market to help with their 2021 playoff push, and they had a hard time keeping him off the floor. He started all 26 games he played for the team (including five postseason tilts) while supplying size and strength around the basket, plus a stat line that almost always featured double-digit points or rebounds, if not both.
“He has since taken his talents to a few different places and basically done the same exact thing,” Buckley wrote in his May 23 article. “He may not always be a locked-in starter, but he’ll always make a nightly push for a double-double while controlling the paint.”
Andre Drummond Believes He’s the ‘Best Rebounded Ever’
Drummond, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020-21 season for 21 games, has had an impressive NBA career. The two-time All-Star was named an All-NBA selection in the 2015-16 season and is a four-time rebound champion.
Drummond said that he believes he’s the “best rebounder ever” on an episode of “The Comfortable Pod.”
“I used to play 40-plus minutes. I was a star, All-Star, All-NBA, I’ve done it. Hall of Fame candidate, best rebounder ever… I’m the best ever,” Drummond said. “I’ve done great in my career. I think I have a chance to be a Hall of Fame player due to what I’ve done in my career. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m in the top 20 for being in the Hall of Fame, so I have a great chance.”
In his NBA career, which started when he was 19 in the 2012-13 season, Drummond has put up averaged at least 10.3 rebounds in every season besides five.
In the 2023-24 season, he finished with nine rebounds per game, doing so in just 17.1 minutes per game with the Chicago Bulls. The last time he played over 20 minutes per game was in the 2021-22 season, and he averaged 10.3 rebounds.
Drummond Helps the Lakers Defend Nikola Jokic and the Minnesota Timberwolves
As the Los Angeles Lakers have dealt with throughout the past two playoffs, Nikola Jokic is one of the toughest players to guard in NBA history. While Drummond likely won’t be the one to stop the three-time Most Valuable Player, he’d give the Lakers another body to throw at him.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, who look to only be getting better, also run a two-center lineup with Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Drummond would be a big help in attempting to stop that.
Tyler Watts explored 15 potential Lakers free-agent targets with ties to LeBron James, listing Drummond as an option due to Jokic and the Timberwolves.
“Drummond is still one of the best rebounders in the league and has settled in as a backup center,” Watts wrote on May 11. “If the Lakers want size and options in defending Nikola Jokic and the big-man trio in Minnesota, signing Drummond makes perfect sense. He could play 15 to 20 minutes off the bench and make a larger impact in specific matchups.”
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