Los Angeles Lakers: Best and worst moves from 2023 NBA offseason

Taking a closer look at a few of the best and worst moves the Los Angeles Lakers made during the 2023 NBA offseason.

After a disappointing start to the 2022-23 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to recover nicely by making a run to the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers retooled the roster at the NBA Trade Deadline and it pay dividends during the team’s playoff run. However, even after the improvements that the Lakers made at last year’s trade deadline, Los Angeles entered the offseason with the need to continue to add to the team.

While they didn’t make a huge move, the Lakers did manage to add a few pieces that could end up making a huge impact on the team this upcoming season. It started at the NBA Draft and carried over into the start of free agency.

Have the Los Angeles Lakers improved enough to emerge as legit contenders?

The big question, even after a fairly successful offseason, is whether or not the Lakers have done enough to enter the pre-season conversation of championship contenders in the Western Conference. On one hand, as long as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy, the Lakers are always going to have a chance to make a deep playoff run – and that’s kind of what we saw from the team last season.

On the other hand, we saw that the Lakers weren’t close to competing with the Denver Nuggets in the conference finals. Add in how much the Phoenix Suns improved with the addition of Bradley Beal and the fact that the Memphis Grizzlies added Marcus Smart this offseason, and it’s no guarantee that the Lakers will be able to compete with the top of the West.

Before we get to that point, though, we look back at a few of their best and worst offseason moves.