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.
The best offseason moves made by the Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most active teams in the NBA this offseason. They didn’t waste much time re-signing their own players and filling out the roster with low-risk, high-reward free agents. Let’s take a look at a couple of some of their better moves from the offseason.
Re-signed Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves
Without question, the two best moves that the Lakers made this offseason included signing Anthony Davis to a contract extension and re-signing Austin Reaves without issue. Both are the future of the Lakers and they are now tied to the team for the foreseeable future.
The expectation is that Reaves will take on a bigger role on the offensive end of the floor for the Lakers this season and as long as AD can remain healthy, this is a duo, along with LeBron James, that is going to power the team forward.
Signed Gabe Vincent and Cam Reddish
Two other low-key moves that the Lakers made are signing Gabe Vincent, potentially to be their starting point guard at some point, and Cam Reddish. The latter hasn’t had the best start to his career but he remains one of the most talented raw young players in the league.
The worst offseason moves made by the Los Angeles Lakers
Even though it’s hard to say that the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t improve their roster this offseason, you can question some of the moves made by the team this summer. At least in my opinion, one of the bigger questionable moves that the Lakers made this offseason involved re-signing D’Angelo Russell.
Re-signing D’Angelo Russell
After he was benched in the Western Conference Finals against the Nuggets, I don’t really understand the Lakers’ decision to re-sign Russell. While I get they couldn’t let an asset walk in free agency, I’m not sure I entirely agree with the decision to re-sign Russell after signing Gabe Vincent away from the Miami Heat.
In the end, the Lakers did improve their roster. By how much; that remains to be seen. Nevertheless, they’re certainly going to be a team to keep an eye on as the season begins.