Los Angeles Lakers: ‘Unsexy’ moves LA should make this offseason

The NBA world stopped still for a moment when Anthony Davis was traded for almost all of the Lakers’ assets, leaving Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers to look for some players to round out the championship contending roster.

If the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans agree on the Anthony Davis super-deal being completed as early as possible, the date would be July 6, and it would leave the Lakers with $23 million of cap space assuming AD turns down his trade kicker.

This money would not be enough to sign a free agent to a maximum deal. Both parties could wait until the end of July for the Lakers to have enough cap space for a max-level player, but I am assuming this deal is going to be done as quick as possible. As nice as it would be for the Lakers to sign a Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard, or Kyrie Irving, it would leave them without any depth.

If one of the players was willing to pay cut, I would explore the deal, but that does not seem realistic for any of those three players listed unless it is Kawhi for the Raptors to keep surrounding him with the talent to compete for the championship. What most likely is going to happen, the Lakers are going to have to surround Kyle Kuzma, LeBron James, and Davis with role guys, and they can not replicate what happened last offseason.

The only guy that I would offer from last year’s batch of free agents would be Rajon Rondo. He got along with AD in New Orleans, and LeBron seems to like playing with him. There were some issues with Rondo’s attitude last year, sitting away from everybody on the bench, the Chris Paul altercation, but I do not think that should hold back signing him, because it will be a completely new-look Lakers next year.

See if Rondo is willing to take a pay cut to play. He is one of the non-max guys that the Lakers should consider signing for this offseason. There are plenty more, and with $23 million in cap space, the Lakers should consider signing 4-5 above average role players to round out the roster with depth. They do not need any more starpower, they need depth. The team with the most starpower in the league just lost to one of the deepest teams in the league, there were injuries involved, but that shows the value of depth.

There are a good amount of players in this league that could play alongside LeBron and AD that are not max-level guys, and I am going to go over a few along with the deals that would be beneficial for the Lakers and the player suggested. The Lakers probably will not get all of them but should consider these guys.