Los Angeles Lakers: Grading The Offseason

The Hibbert Trade

With names like LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe floating around, trading for Roy Hibbert probably isn’t what most Lakers fans expected this summer. However, as much as Hibbert’s stock has fallen in the last year and a half, we shouldn’t forget that he’s still an extremely useful defensive anchor who finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting only a season ago.

In their deal with the Indiana Pacers, the Lakers only had to give up a future second round draft pick and cash to bring in their new defensive stalwart. Hibbert’s massive $15.5 million contract is the reason the Lakers got him for such a small ransom, but he only has one year left on his deal.

This means that Hibbert could amount to nothing more than a one-year rental, but if that’s the case, the Lakers can rest easy knowing they’ll be preserving a ton of cap space for next summer, when they should have enough room to sign two max-level players in free agency.

On the offensive end of the floor, Hibbert will probably wind up getting in the way more than anything, which could be a hindrance to D’Angelo Russell’s development as a penetrator and the Lakers’ guard-heavy attack. Hibbert shot just 44.6 percent from the floor last season — an appalling mark for a big man who takes the majority of his shots around the basket — and he’s not an imposing post-up presence.

However, Hibbert will make the Lakers a better team in 2015-16. He addresses one of L.A.’s biggest areas of need and will help shore up a porous defensive backcourt that will feature a way-past-his-prime Kobe Bryant, rookie D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson.

Since the Lakers hardly had to give anything up for Hibbert and still preserved future cap space with this trade, the deal marked a pretty decent recovery from missing out on the summer’s top big men.

Grade: B+

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