Los Angeles Lakers: 3 reasons they will not win the 2020-21 NBA title

2. The Los Angeles Lakers backcourt will struggle to guard dynamic backcourts

The Los Angeles Lakers went through a makeover at the guard positions this offseason. The key addition was Dennis Schroder, acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder in return for defensive wing Danny Green. The team also said goodbye to Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley.

Schroder is a more dynamic offensive player and helps with the team’s offensive creation duties. He is also a significantly worse defender than the players he replaced and leaves the Lakers with a lack of options defensively. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope can take one smaller guard or wing, but the Lakers now have a soft spot in their starting and closing 5.

How do the Lakers respond against teams with two great guards? When this team plays the Phoenix Suns, how will they allocate the defensive assignments to take on Chris Paul and Devin Booker? Or when facing Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell with the Utah Jazz? James Harden and Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets? Who is chasing Joe Harris around, for that matter?

Investing resources in Schroder gives them less versatility than a season ago. They won the title without Bradley, but even as Danny Green was in a shooting slump he could pair with Caldwell-Pope in the right matchups. Now that option has been removed entirely. Wesley Matthews makes sense in theory, but he looks like the odd man out with the team signing Ben McLemore to help their shooting.

The Lakers’ plus defenders are weighted towards the large end of the roster. That’s not unusual, but it means that if the Lakers want to slide Anthony Davis (if healthy) to the 5 and LeBron James to the 4, they will need to bring in a larger forward rather than another dynamic outside scoring threat who can provide guard defense.

This may not be a major problem; Schroder is not inept on the defensive end. But on a team with defense as its calling card, and limited creators otherwise, they will likely need him to play major minutes in the postseason. That represents a weak link in their stout defense, one the right teams will be able to exploit.