The Los Angeles Lakers‘ roster appears to be like at the least a bit higher proper now than it did after they have been shoved out of the primary spherical of the 2025 NBA Playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 5 video games.
At that point, they have been coping with a large gap on the heart place and a bench that was very anemic on the offensive finish. To deal with these weaknesses, they signed heart Deandre Ayton, who has been criticized for his lack of zeal on the defensive finish however has profession averages of 16.4 factors on 59% field-goal taking pictures and 10.5 rebounds a recreation. They additionally introduced in sharpshooting ahead Jake LaRavia, former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and rookie ahead Adou Thiero.
Advertisement
Some really feel the Lakers might subsequently be a dark-horse workforce in the Western Conference this coming season. But longtime NBA reporter David Aldridge is not feeling that optimism. He ranked 29 of the league’s 30 groups (he exempted the Golden State Warriors) by how they did this offseason in a recent article for The Athletic, and he positioned L.A. at No. 24 whereas citing the lack of ahead Dorian Finney-Smith as one motive for the low rating.
“We’ll see if Ayton can still be a major difference maker after flaming out in Phoenix and Portland,” Aldridge wrote. “Similarly, Smart isn’t what he was in Boston, but many advanced stats show he’s still one of the better defensive guards in the league – and he’s better defensively than anyone else L.A. can roll out. Losing DFS, though, is a blow.”
The Lakers will definitely miss Finney-Smith, particularly since he helped flip their season round after they acquired him in a late December commerce with the Brooklyn Nets. He gave them the kind of 3-and-D wing they’d lacked, and his skill to protect a number of positions on the perimeter helped them declare the third seed in the Western Conference.
He opted to hitch the Houston Rockets, a workforce most take into account a professional contender now that it has future Hall of Fame ahead Kevin Durant.
But Smart might assist substitute at the least among the efficient wing protection Finney-Smith introduced, and LaRavia shot a better price from 3-point vary (42.3%) than Finney-Smith (41.1%), albeit on considerably decrease quantity. A variety of gamers for Los Angeles have some upward potential, and subsequently, the workforce as an entire has the flexibility to show its doubters improper.
Advertisement
This article initially appeared on LeBron Wire: The Athletic writer ranks Lakers’ offseason among worst in NBA