The Los Angeles Lakers will face major questions this summer if they flame out in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
The Lakers lost for the 12th time against the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Thursday. April 25, and are now staring at an insurmountable 3-0 hole. No team has ever come back from such a deficit in NBA history.
Barring a miraculous comeback, the Lakers head into the offseason with LeBron James‘ player option hanging over their heads.
“If James is out the door, moving Anthony [Davis] would need to be a consideration. Davis still has plenty of value to bring in a considerable haul of talent or assets,” Bleacher Report’s salary cap guru Eric Pincus wrote on April 26.
The 39-year-old James has a $51.4 million player option which he needs to decide on June 29. That is the first domino that would fall before the Lakers make any roster move this summer.
They have 3 first-round picks to use to trade for a star.
Atlanta’s Trae Young and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell were named as their top trade targets. But the question would remain should they lose to the Nuggets again, which is highly likely, if either of those star guards would be enough for them to contend for a title, let alone come out in the competitive Western Conference.
James will turn 40 next season. Davis will be 32 by the next playoffs.
Should the Lakers tear down their roster and rebuild or continue building around Davis if James leaves them?
Lakers Warned Against Trading for Trae Young
Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless urged the Lakers not to trade for Young this summer because it would be tantamount of committing the same mistake they did in the past.
“What was the biggest mistake LeBron [James] ever made?” Bayless said during the April 18 episode of “UNDISPUTED.” “It was Russell Westbrook. And there’s a lot of Russell Westbrook operating in Trae Young. By the way, Trae – he’s a good guy. He’s a nice guy. He’s fun to be around. So, that’s never an issue. … He’s been six years in this league now. He has led the NBA in total turnovers over those six years by far.”
Young averaged 4.4 turnovers this season for the Hawks, who flamed out in the play-in tournament.
Kyle Kuzma’s Jab
The former Lakers’ No. 3 guy, who was the central figure in the Westbrook trade that did not pan out, took an apparent jab at his former team.
“Back then, they didn’t want me,” Kuzma posted on X, formerly Twitter, after the Lakers’ 112-105 loss in Game 3 at Crypto.com Arena.
Lakers fans flocked the reply section of Kuzma’s tweet and reminded him about his poor performance in their 2021 first-round exit against the Phoenix Suns which led to his exit.
Kuzma averaged a disappointing 6.3 points on 29.1% shooting in the Lakers’ 4-2 loss to the Suns in the disappointing season that followed their championship run inside the Orlando Bubble.
Now with the rebuilding Wizards, Kuzma has enjoyed individual success as he just came off his best NBA season, averaging 22.2 points on 46.3% shooting and 4.2 assists — all career-highs — with 6.2 rebounds across 70 games.
The Lakers tried to re-acquire Kuzma in 2022, according to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.
Should they target him again this summer instead of Young or Mitchell?
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