LA’s trade deadline got overshadowed by the relocation of a couple ex-Brooklyn Nets.
Your Los Angeles Lakers’ front office drastically altered the team’s front office at this year’s NBA trade deadline, a pleasant surprise after rumors of explosive potential dealmaking had come and gone throughout much of the 2022-23 season.
The three biggest problems to the team’s roster imbalance to start the season had been clear by November 2022: the bloated contracts of past-their-prime point guards Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn, totaling $65.4 million.
Due to the aforementioned roster imbalance and/or Darvin Ham’s attachment to small ball lineups, those players were often miscast positionally. The 6’1″ Beverley was the team’s starting shooting guard for the most of the season prior to his trade to the Orlando Magic, where he has since been bought out. At least he can still prove to be a pesky defender, though he is no longer the All-Defensive irritant he was in his prime. The 6’2″ Nunn often played reserve shooting guard minutes, mostly because he doesn’t have much of a handle — unfortunately, his shotmaking also seems to have more or less abandoned him since his Miami Heat days. The 6’3″ Westbrook occasionally played in three-guard lineups with Beverley and Dennis Schröder, effectively making him the small forward which, uh, didn’t work out that well.
Nunn and three future second-round draft picks were flipped to the Washington Wizards for ex-lottery selection Rui Hachimura, a combo forward with some juice as a catch-and-shoot three-point marksman. Beverley, a second-round pick and cash considerations were sent to the Magic in exchange for Mo Bamba. Westbrook and LA’s 2027 first-round draft pick were part of a massive three-team deal that netted LA point guard D’Angelo Russell, shooting guard Malik Beasley and power forward Jarred Vanderbilt. LA also shipped out Thomas Bryant to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for three second-round draft picks and a flyer on shooting guard Davon Reed, but really that deal was done to replenish draft equity.
These deals have given LA what it’s desperately needed all year: a lot more high-level, high-volume three-point shooting (Russell, Beasley and Bamba are all above-average three-point shooters, while Russell and Beasley each take 7+ triples per contest; Hachimura as we’ve established is a decent three-point shooter off the catch), much better defense (Vanderbilt and Bamba in particular will be critical here), and just more positionally-appropriate size everywhere.
Gone, too, are the terrible late-game decisions that so hampered LA when Russell Westbrook had the rock in his hands. D’Angelo Russell has been known to occasionally stagnate an offense, but it’s nothing near the destructive impact of Westbrook.
So this team president Rob Pelinka has constructed an LA team that actually fits around its two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, while ultimately only sacrificing net draft output of one first-round pick and one second-rounder.
On Wednesday, we saw what this new team was capable of on both sides of the floor, as it ran roughshod over a Zion Williams-less New Orleans Pelicans club at Crypto.com Arena, winning 120-102. But that victory brought it to a record of just 27-32, as the Lakers remain on the outside of the play-in tournament bracket looking in.
Meanwhile, the big splashy moves in the West at the trade deadline were the Phoenix Suns’ acquisition of All-NBA superstar Kevin Durant, and the Dallas Mavericks’ trade for KD’s ex-Brooklyn Nets teammate, All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. The Western Conference has been totally shaken up by these transactions. Has LA done enough to improve?
If James and Davis can stay healthy (those are big “ifs”), this club is capable of hanging with almost anybody in the conference — with the possible exceptions of a healthy Suns club (another big “if”) and the Denver Nuggets, led by top MVP contender Nikola Jokic. The Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings are all solid, but have clear vulnerabilities that this new-look Lakers club can exploit.
First thing’s first: Los Angeles needs to get into the play-in tournament. But really, it should be aiming higher as the regular season wraps up. Los Angeles is just 3.5 games behind the sixth-seeded Mavericks (31-29), meaning it’s just a win streak away from avoiding the play-in tournament entirely! This new, more balanced LA roster has the horses. It may not compete for, say, a title, but it can certainly win a playoff round.
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