The Los Angeles Lakers are now focused on the offseason after a disappointing end to their season.
Behind rookie head coach JJ Redick, Los Angeles seemed to find a stride that they haven’t had in years. The Lakers finished the season as the 3rd seed in the Western Conference with a 50-32 record.
The Lakers’ newest star Luka Doncic was a year removed from an appearance in the NBA Finals. Doncic had Laker fans delirious with the belief that he could take this team to that same spot.
LeBron James had his sights set on winning his 5th NBA Championship which would tie him with Laker legend Kobe Bryant.
It seemed that the stars aligned for the franchise’s 18th NBA championship.
Reality struck and this was not the case as the Minnesota Timberwolves upset Los Angeles in the first round of the playoffs.
Minnesota simply exploited Los Angeles’ weaknesses en route to a 5-game series victory. The Lakers were unable to match the Wolves’ energy and physicality.
Los Angeles will now head back to the drawing board this summer to address these weaknesses and answer other glaring questions that hover over the team.
The most evident issue that the Lakers had this season was the lack of a true center.
Even when the Lakers had Anthony Davis, he never fully embraced the center role. Davis has always expressed his desire to play his primary role at power forward.
After trading Davis to the Dallas Mavericks for Doncic, the Lakers’ front court got even worse as they lost Davis’ interior defense without any way to make up for it.
Jaxson Hayes became the Lakers’ starting center for the rest of the regular season. Hayes would not see much time in the playoffs though, as Redick chose to go with a small ball lineup instead.
The Lakers did attempt to trade for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams, but called off the trade after Williams failed a physical.
After the trade for Williams fell through, the Lakers resorted to singing veteran center Alex Len. Len averaged 2.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in 10 games for Los Angeles.
The Lakers simply do not have any reliable centers on its current roster.
In the offseason, they will need to make it a priority to address the center position. Possible centers the Lakers could target through trades and free agency include Myles Turner, Brook Lopez, Clint Capela and Nic Claxton.
The end to James’ legendary 23-year career is on the horizon.
James holds a player option for this summer. He is expected to play at least one more season.
Most expect that James will return to Los Angeles for the final year of his career. James has not ruled out the possibility of playing for another team though.
Whichever the case is, the Lakers need to start planning for life after James.
This includes fully embracing Doncic as the franchise’s new cornerstone and building the team around him as the Mavericks did.
Whatever direction the Lakers decide to go in this summer, it is sure to be an interesting offseason.
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