Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the most expendable players right now

2. Lance Stephenson

Right now, Lance Stephenson has a long way to go before he’s proven his place on this roster. All of the offseason videos looked great, but even his preseason performances have been lackluster. Until we see positive regular season production, the skepticism will remain.

There’s just not enough recent evidence of success for Stephenson to be considered anything other than expendable. That’s not to say that he doesn’t potentially bring value to this roster, but his inconsistency, erratic play and overall average production aren’t exactly signs of good things to come.

Let’s just look at last season for reasons why Stephenson isn’t exactly locked in as a prominent piece of this Lakers squad. While playing in all 82 games for the Indiana Pacers a year ago, he averaged only 9.2 points, 2.9 assists and 0.6 steals per game while shooting a lackluster 42.7 percent from the field and 28.9 percent from long range.

If it comes to February and the Lakers are looking to swing a trade, chances are Stephenson is included. His $4.3 million salary makes him an easy throw-in to make the financials work. Even if he starts to play like the Stephenson of 2013-14, I don’t think Los Angeles will hesitate to send him packing unless it’s looking like a legitimate contender.

Don’t get too comfortable watching No. 6 in a Lakers jersey. He may not be tops on this list, but he’s still expendable at this point in time.