Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from the 2018 offseason
1. The future remains at the forefront
The most important takeaway from the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason is that they kept the future at the forefront of their free agent signings. I’m a massive believer in the core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart being the foundation for a team that can contend for the better part of the decade, not including the promising summers of rookies Moritz Wagner and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk from the 2018 NBA Draft.
They stuck by these players when every summer rumor tipped a pair of them to be shipped to San Antonio in exchange for Kawhi Leonard (before he went to the Toronto Raptors), but the Lakers smartly are taking their chances of signing him in 2019. As I laid out last week, they can turn their attention to Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson or other members of a strong 2019 class as well.
LeBron eased the pressure on the Lakers front office by telling them he trusts them and said they don’t need to gut their young talent for Kawhi, and understands the long game approach. Adding veterans on one-year deals will keep their financial books in balance moving forward and offers their young players a chance to learn from the 56 combined years of NBA experience between LeBron, Rondo, Stephenson, McGee and Michael Beasley.
Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
With this roster, LeBron has a staple of lineups to be thrown in and could be a really tough out in the postseason. That’s all he can ask for given the free agency market and reluctance for the Lakers to gut their assets for a second star. This allows them to contend now and build for the future, one that is extremely bright after the success of the past two draft classes.