Does this make sense for the Los Angeles Lakers?
At first glance, this is a trade that some would argue doesn’t help the Lakers enough. Their 3-point shooting was a real issue during the 2020-21 season and DeMar DeRozan would do nothing to help that. He is a career 28.1 percent shooter from distance and made only 19 all of last season.
However, the Lakers have the ultimate frontcourt weapon in Anthony Davis that should help alleviate some of the floor spacing concerns. LeBron James is an improved 3-point shooter and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a proven sniper. Adding a pure shooter at the point guard position should give Los Angeles enough floor spacing with its starting unit.
Where DeRozan will help the Lakers is in taking pressure off of LeBron James in the playmaking department. He would essentially take over that role from Dennis Schroder, who looks likely to depart this offseason after declining a four-year offer worth north of $80 million.
DeRozan is also a bonafide scorer, giving the Lakers a legitimate third option on offense. Frank Vogel could run his offense through DeRozan when LeBron James and Anthony Davis are resting on the bench or taking a night off. It may be clunky at the start, as Davis also likes to operate from the elbow, but just knowing there is another player fully capable of creating his own offense on the court should help improve the team on that side of the ball.
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Availability is the best skill in the NBA and DeRozan would also provide that. He has missed double-digit games only twice in his career, once being the most recent COVID-19 impacted season in which the Spurs strategically were sitting players at some points in the season.
Given the injuries Los Angeles dealt with this season, knowing you can basically pencil a player in for 75+ appearances would be ideal.
