Nothing appears to be going the Los Angeles Lakers' way this summer. Especially after a top trade target of theirs, Lu Dort, was just traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal.
The deal netted the Thunder three second-round picks, an offer the Lakers could have easily matched had they not traded for Walker Kessler. Actually, the Lakers currently have three second-round picks remaining.
However, they would have had to have dumped Jared Vanderbilt and Dalton Knecht on another team to make that trade possible. Still, missing out on Dort for the cost of three second-round picks is inexcusable considering Los Angeles could be a turnstile defensively next season.
The Lakers are asleep at the wheel this offseason
Los Angeles has made several puzzling moves this summer. For instance, they let Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart leave in free agency despite them signing with new teams for a combined $13 million.
They also traded most of their remaining assets for Kessler and will now be paying him $32.5 million on average over the next four seasons. In fact, he is now the ninth highest-paid center in the NBA even though he isn't a top 10 player at his position.
Other moves, such as signing Sandro Mamukelashvili to a four-year, $52 million deal to replace Rui Hachimura, seem questionable when he is a worse defender. In fact, adding several questionable defenders to complement Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, who are both bad defenders, seems almost irresponsible.
The Lakers' Lou Dort mistake will hunt them for the rest of the season
That's what makes Los Angeles not trading for Dort so baffling. Given OKC's cap constraints, they wouldn't have been able to demand much in return for one of the best defenders in the NBA.
That means that if the Lakers were serious enough, they could have swooped in and gotten an elite defender for just a few second-round picks and salary filler. Instead, Los Angeles sat on its hands and watched as the Atlanta Hawks got him for surprisingly little.
Now, they have two elite defensive players while the Lakers only have one in Kessler. Even with Kessler, he can't make up for Los Angeles' questionable collection of perimeter players defensively.
Had they gotten Dort, they would fair far better defensively if paired with Kessler. Instead, Los Angeles let a golden opportunity slip by.
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