The Los Angeles Lakers had a very busy offseason. Rob Pelinka pulled off the biggest trade of the NBA offseason thus far, bringing Russell Westbrook back home.
The Lakers acquired Westbrook from the Washington Wizards, sacrificing a large chunk of their depth to do so. Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and the 22nd pick in the 2021 NBA Draft were all sent to Washington to match Westbrook’s salary.
That left the Lakers with only four players under contract heading into free agency. In addition to Westbrook, LeBron James, now the longest-tenured Laker, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol were the only players with guaranteed deals for the 2021-22 season.
Pelinka had his hands full in rounding out the roster. Restricted free agent Talen Horton-Tucker was re-signed, giving the Lakers only four players from last season’s roster that will be on this season’s roster. Without much cap space to sign players, the front office got to work on veteran’s minimum offers.
READ MORE: Predictions for Latest NBA Trade Rumors: Simmons, Siakam, Dragic, Lillard
Players lined up for the opportunity to ring chase with the trio of James, Davis and Westbrook. Carmelo Anthony, Wayne Ellington, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore and Malik Monk all signed minimum deals. Kendrick Nunn signed a two-year, $10.3 million deal as the biggest splurge of the offseason.
While people will point to the average age of the Lakers’ roster for this season, they have all proven they can still perform at a winning level.
But, the team is not yet complete. They will likely sign two more players to fill out the roster heading into the regular season, but Los Angeles will always do whatever it takes to upgrade the roster.
READ MORE: Predictions for Latest NBA Trade Rumors: Simmons, Siakam, Dragic, Lillard
If that means trading someone they just signed down the road, they will do it. With no avenues to trade right now, here is one player the Lakers should monitor on the trade market during the regular season.
