Ranking The Los Angeles Lakers’ 5 Best Players Right Now

4. PF Julius Randle

In terms of potential, Julius Randle is one of the most intriguing players on the Lakers’ roster right now. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t quite lived up to the hype since landing in Los Angeles two offseasons ago.

Obviously, the broken leg in his NBA debut didn’t help. It was a tedious road to recovery, and Randle fought a steep learning curve in what was essentially his rookie season a year ago. Although he gave us glimpses of greatness, it was clear he still had a long way to go before developing into the star he’s capable of being.

I’m not sure what type of progress we’ll see in 2016-17, but expectations are high.

Based on what we’ve seen between last season and this preseason, Randle is in for a big year. However, he still needs to see significant improvement, especially on the defensive end.

While Randle is more than capable of putting up points and obviously dominants the boards, he doesn’t exactly make a lot of plays on defense. The Lakers will be looking to see more steals and blocks from Randle in 2016-17, while it’s completely feasible for him to average a double-double in points and rebounds.

The Kentucky product is an excellent talent, but needs to step up his game in a couple of areas. If he can do that, I could see him moving up this list in a hurry.