The Los Angeles Lakers are already the story of the 2018 offseason. How should they be graded on their moves this offseason?
More so than any other franchise in NBA history, the Los Angeles Lakers are used to success. The San Antonio Spurs have seen plenty of it recently, but weren’t always a perennial contender. The Boston Celtics had a long walk in the desert between Larry Bird and Kevin Garnett. But the Lakers have always been incredible.
Except, that is, for the past four seasons, when the Lakers have averaged 22 wins and finished no higher than 14th in the conference. For three consecutive seasons they have picked second in the draft, trying to put together a core of future stars to redeem the league’s most popular franchise.
Perhaps trying to rekindle the feeling of the Showtime dynasty, the Lakers brought in Hall of Fame point guard Magic Johnson to run the ship. Power agent Rob Pelinka was named general manager. With a former Laker as head coach in Luke Walton, this team is drawing on its past to ignite the future.
With rumors swirling about the possibilities of 2018 and its superstar free agent class, the Lakers began making the moves that will set them up as an attraction next year and a contender down the road. How should Magic and the Lakers be graded on their 2017 offseason moves?
The Russell Trade
The summer of 2016 was flush with both cash and teams ready to spend it. A staggering amount of money was handed out, easily clearing $1 billion in guarantees. A one-year spike in revenue caused a corresponding spike in cap space, and thus middling players found themselves raking in the payday of a lifetime.
While Portland and New York both leapt headlong into the fire, perhaps no team damaged its future more than the Los Angeles Lakers. Within minutes of the free agency period beginning, the Lakers handed out a monster $64 million contract to free agent center Timofey Mozgov. A few days later they brought in Luol Deng for $72 million. Both players were immediately overpaid, and found themselves lurching through uneven seasons that ended with them both on the bench.
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Fast forward one year, and the Lakers realize they need all the cap space they can get in 2018 to sign two max-level free agents, be that LeBron James, Paul George, Russell Westbrook or any of a number of other free agents. This team needed to open up cap space, which meant getting out of the contracts signed to Mozgov and Deng.
The Lakers struck first with Timofey Mozgov, killing a few birds with one stone. They sent Mozgov and former second overall pick D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and a late first round pick.
Not only did they move Mozgov for Lopez’s expiring contract, they made themselves better this season by adding an accomplished center. Without the rights to their first round pick in 2018, the Lakers will push to win as many games as possible to increase their draw to free agents next summer.
The third goal it accomplished for the Lakers was moving D’Angelo Russell, who played the same position as their presumptive draft pick Lonzo Ball. That’s not to say they needed to move Russell — while a defensive sieve, Russell has the size and skill-set to play off-ball in a backcourt alongside Ball. But the Lakers wanted it to be crystal clear who their floor general was.
It’s a hard move to get off of bad salary in general, but even more so when it’s as egregious as Mozgov’s contract is. Trading Russell was a steep price, but it brought in a borderline All-Star center in Lopez and eventually Kyle Kuzma, who looks like a player. That’s not a bad return, and therefore it’s not a bad grade bestowed on them.
Grade: B+
Drafting Lonzo Ball
At the 2017 NBA Draft, LaVar Ball was displayed front-and-center. With every pick still undecided, Ball repeated the mantra that he has spoken over his son Lonzo since his birth: “My boy’s going to be a Los Angeles Laker.”
In an incredible twist of either fate or collusion, depending on how deep into the rabbit hole one goes, Lonzo Ball was drafted second overall to be the new face of his hometown Lakers. LaVar Ball became a prophet of gargantuan proportions.
A draft pick has to be evaluated in at least two ways. The first is the player’s fit on a team, and the second is his value compared to other players available at the time. For most players they are clearly selected for one reason or the other, and the perfect picks are those that hit both perfectly. The Philadephia 76ers and their selection of Markelle Fultz was one of these doubly perfect picks.
Lonzo Ball could be another perfect fit for the Lakers, or he could fail in both areas. One of the most polarizing players to enter the draft in years, time will tell whether the Lakers made the right choice. On the court, Lonzo brings a truly special passing ability, and his teammates cannot help but change to adopt his culture of ball movement and unselfish celebration. He also brings a questionable handle and poor defensive tools to a team with no other elite ball-handlers or lockdown defenders.
The value question is more difficult to answer. Many draft boards had Ball at or near the top; others dropped him down and instead elevated Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson and Dennis Smith Jr. Both Ball and Smith lit up Las Vegas Summer League, and the race for the Rookie of the Year could be one of the best in years.
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Ball and his bigger-than-life father fit right into the Los Angeles scene, and he seems to have the right temperament and maturity level to handle both his family and the spotlight. Dreamers can envision Ball diming up LeBron James and Paul George during countless fast break opportunities in 2018 and beyond.
Lakers fans will need to inject a little patience into their expectations for Ball. It’s possible defenders learn to crowd his shot and force him to drive, which he has struggled to do at prior stops. They could also play him off the court by running him through countless pick-and-rolls. Smith could win Rookie of the Year and Jayson Tatum could win a title with the Boston Celtics while Ball is still learning defensive fundamentals.
But these new-look Lakers needed a bold face of the franchise, and Lonzo Ball is exactly that. The Lakers will have an offensive identity crafted by Luke Walton, green-lit by Magic Johnson, and driven by Ball. They will be fun to watch, even if they are not yet winning games. This was the right marriage of player and team.
Grade: A-
Drafting Kyle Kuzma
When the Los Angeles Lakers first used their second first round pick (acquired from Brooklyn in the Russell trade) on Kyle Kuzma, the selection seemed bizarre. Kuzma was an older one-hit wonder at a small school, not the sort of player the Lakers have gone after in recent seasons.
Kuzma decided to prove the Lakers right from the jump, putting together a scorching Summer League performance in Las Vegas where he shot 51.4 percent from the field, including 48 percent from long range. While Lonzo Ball won the MVP award, Kuzma’s play was arguably just as elite, especially when Ball missed the title game and Kuzma dropped 28 in leading Los Angeles to the title.
The role for Kuzma in this upcoming season is unclear. Julius Randle is the starting power forward for now, and like Kuzma is too slow to play the 3 but too small to play the 5. That means Kuzma can at best be a straight backup to Randle.
But if head coach Luke Walton wants to go small for portions of games, that will also limit his minutes. Brandon Ingram and Luol Deng are both long enough to play as small-ball 4s, and those types of lineups best maximize the passing talent of Ball.
In the future, the Lakers may very well have to move Randle to free up space to sign two max-level free agents. Kuzma’s goal will be to prepare for that moment, where he can step into a backup role as a shooting, skilled 4 off the bench. For now, though, it’s clear he can play, which means the Lakers did what they needed to do with this pick.
Grade: B+
Drafting Josh Hart
The Los Angeles Lakers of recent years have had a wealth of high-pedigree skilled players from big schools who excel at the offensive end. Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram are the recent lottery picks for this team.
What this team lacks among its various backcourt pieces is a defensive role player. Russell is now gone, but no one out of Ball, Jordan Clarkson and Alex Caruso is locking down opposing guards. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fits that need, but he is on just a one-year contract.
Josh Hart was taken with the final pick in the first round, after the Lakers flipped the 28th pick to Utah for No. 30 and No. 42. A national champion with Villanova, Hart was a Player of the Year candidate alongside Sacramento rookie Frank Mason III and Portland rookie Caleb Swanigan.
Hart won’t be a 20-point scorer, nor will he accrue triple-doubles or run an offense. But he is a solid role player, and teams need those players too. His defensive versatility means he can guard 1s or 2s, and he should be able to play minutes alongside any of the aforementioned guards. Hart doesn’t have the ceiling of a star, but when a team takes a player at 30 all they need is usefulness. Hart has that for sure.
Grade: A-
Drafting Thomas Bryant
Kentucky. Duke. UCLA. The Los Angeles Lakers have, purposefully or not, created a core of young players from college basketball’s blue blood programs. Perhaps it’s another part of their recreation of the past endeavor. With that collection of schools, all the team was missing was an Indiana Hoosier.
Enter Thomas Bryant, once a projected lottery pick, taken with the 42nd pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He played two seasons at Indiana, regressing slightly in his second season before deciding to make the leap to the NBA.
Bryant has the build to be a tough center down low, but has struggled to make an impact defensively. He has all of the tools to be great, and at times for Indiana he put them together in flashes of scoring or shooting.
The refinement to his game, however, will have to come through development. His footwork, positioning, rebounding, defensive technique, motor — all these left much to be desired at Indiana. The potential for a starting center is there, but there is also major work to be done.
Grade: C+
Re-signing Tyler Ennis
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently not in the business of making long-term commitments to players unless they are highly talented rookies or maximum-salary superstars. Their focus is on the summer of 2018 and the incredible amount of free agents who will potentially be on the market.
The Lakers are also not in the business of ignoring opportunities to find rotation players at the lowest cost possible. Last season, point guard Tyler Ennis was a throw-in on the deal that sent Lou Williams to Houston for Corey Brewer, Ennis and a first round pick.
Down the stretch Ennis showed flashes of the player many thought he would be coming out of Syracuse. He has bounced around since being drafted in 2014, showing up in Phoenix, Milwaukee, and Houston before finally making an impact in Los Angeles. While he didn’t set the world on fire, he showed the coaching staff there was still potential buried inside.
For a one-year minimum deal, the risk to the Lakers was minimal at best. The upside is that Ennis will turn into a reliable backup point guard, allowing the team to move Jordan Clarkson as they clear space for the summer of 2018. Ennis doesn’t need to be special to be worth the signing; he just has to be worth the roster spot.
Grade: B
Signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
If we were going to grade the Pistons, we would give them a resounding F for their handling of the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope situation.
With KCP being a restricted free agent, the Pistons had the opportunity to match any offer extended to him, and the tepid market overall has led restricted free agents to get smaller and smaller contracts this summer.
Instead they signed Langston Galloway, a move that pushed them close to the hard cap and eventually led to the renunciation of Caldwell-Pope’s rights. As a tough on-ball backcourt defender who can shoot the ball and create secondary offense, KCP is a perfect fit next to defensively-challenged passing point guards.
This means he is a perfect fit beside Lonzo Ball, the future of the Lakers. When no long-term deals materialized for Caldwell-Pope at the numbers he wanted, he accepted the Lakers’ one-year, $18 million contract offer. Next summer he will be able to get into the fray from the start as an unrestricted free agent and find the long-term deal he is searching for.
While Los Angeles has big aspirations for next summer, there is a non-zero chance that players such as LeBron James and Paul George stay put or sign elsewhere. In that case, a player like Caldwell-Pope could find his long-term contract offer coming from the Lakers.
With this move, the Lakers ensure they will be a better team next season without compromising their cap space in 2018. While in a way the Lakers lucked into his availability, they made the right offer for a pairing that works great for both sides. This was an excellent move for this young front office.
Grade: A
Overall
The Los Angeles Lakers summarily flubbed the summer of 2016, turning an incredible amount of cap space into bloated contracts for Timofey Mozgov, Luol Deng, and Jordan Clarkson — all of whom the team will need to move to enact their plans for 2018.
This summer they pivoted the other way, using their assets to add either proven veterans on one-year contracts — Brook Lopez and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — or inexpensive rookies with upside to contribute.
Blue Man Hoop
They also added a new face of the franchise, a player with the celebrity and game to represent the storied Los Angeles Lakers. As Magic Johnson casts his charm across the league and continues recruiting free agents, this roster is now flush with young players who Luke Walton can grow into something more.
There was no exceptionally great move, but no terrible ones either. Overall the Lakers added the right kind of players, even if their talent evaluation wasn’t perfect at each step. This team will be fun, and it has potential.
The Lakers also have a cap sheet that is beginning to clear up ahead of next summer. From their trade to start the offseason to their draft selections, everything was a step towards a future where the allure of Los Angeles and the magnetism of Magic Johnson bring the NBA’s very best to play in purple and gold.
If that plan comes together, this offseason becomes even more successful. But the Lakers have set themselves up with backup plans as well, from young developing stars to a pair of veterans in Lopez and Caldwell-Pope, who could re-sign and fill valuable roles for the team past this season.
Next: Cleveland Cavaliers: Complete 2017 offseason grades
For the first time in years, the Lakers did an offseason right. It won’t result in a ground-shaking leap back to the postseason, but it does represent a step in the right direction. That’s what Los Angeles needed, and that’s what they pulled off.
Grade: A-