The Los Angeles Lakers have been living in a nightmare for about five years. They haven’t clinched a playoff spot since 2013 when a potential super team that included Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash and Metta World Peace got swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the last chapter of a nothing-but-forgettable 2012-13 season. Meanwhile, to make matters worse, the Clippers had been raising their level enough to steal the label of “Los Angeles’ first team” led by the trio composed of Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul who, ironically, was close to being acquired by the Lakers just before joining Lob City.
Fortunately for the Lakers, this nightmare seems to be gradually nearing an end.
Over the last few years, the Lakers have been getting several first-round picks as a consolation prize for living in this kind of nightmare. This consolation prize meant selecting top-10 draft picks such as Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball. Moreover, the Lakers’ front office made the most of their late-first-round and second-round picks as they found role players in Jordan Clarkson (selected at No. 46) and Larry Nance Jr. (No. 27), as well as a promising big man in Ivica Zubac (No. 32). Finally, the first thought regarding the Lakers’ late draft picks in 2017 is that they have made solid moves by taking a versatile and NBA-ready power forward in Kyle Kuzma, an efficient scorer and tough defender in former Villanova shooting guard Josh Hart and a very young center in Thomas Bryant out of Indiana, who can develop as a potential stretch-five by spending some significant time in the NBA G-League with the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
This bunch of young, promising players will form the basis of the Los Angeles Lakers renaissance. OK, D’Angelo Russell has been traded and, at first glance, it seems that the Nets won the trade against the Lakers. However, the move made a day before the draft by Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka may turn out to be right for L.A. down the road. It is, in fact, hard to lose a young guard with All-Star potential, but the Lakers managed to get the No. 27 pick in the 2017 Draft, with which they selected Kyle Kuzma who, as said before, has the tools to provide solid effort coming off the bench. The Lakers also acquired a veteran, underrated center in Brook Lopez, who had for years been the Nets’ franchise player and earned an All-Star selection in 2013. As a Laker, Lopez can provide very good effort both on and off the court; he averaged almost 21 points last season and has made significant progress on his shooting range (he shot a career-high 35 percent from three). Lopez can also serve as a mentor for the young core. But most importantly, the Lakers got rid of Timofey Mozgov’s illegal contract, worth about $48 million for the next three seasons.
There’s another key factor that can turn the Lakers’ nightmare into a dream. Four-time All-Star Paul George has already informed the Indiana Pacers that he plans to leave the franchise once he becomes a free agent at the end of the 2017-18 season and prefers to join the Los Angeles Lakers, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on June 18th.
Paul George would be a perfect fit for the Lakers, as he could become the new face of the franchise following Kobe Bryant’s retirement. George’s pairing with the Lakers would be particularly special because not only is he an All-Star, but a hometown kid (he was born in Palmdale, California). With George possibly coming to L.A., the Lakers would make a serious and aggressive rush to become once again a playoff team.
But here comes the question: how, and more importantly when, should the Lakers make a move for Paul George?
There are two ways. The Lakers can try to acquire George this summer by trading for him by using the good amount of assets they have gathered over the last few years. This is the lesser option for the Lakers. OK, they would get a superstar right away for next season, but they would almost certainly be forced to sacrifice a promising, young player (Clarkson? Randle?).
As Def Pen’s Orazio Cauchi already wrote in his last column, there’s no reason why the Lakers should be in a hurry. They know Paul George wants to join them, so they can just wait a year and then make an aggressive move to get PG during the 2018 free agency.
Now emerges the importance of the trade made with the Brooklyn Nets. As said before, the Lakers have cleared very significant cap room by unloading Timofey Mozgov’s $16 million-per-year contract, which clears the path to get to Paul George. Furthermore, Brook Lopez’s $22 million contract expires after next season, when he’ll join Tarik Black and Corey Brewer as Lakers free agents, giving the Lakers more cap flexibility through which they can pursue George in free agency without giving up on their young players.
This option, anyway, could lead to an obstacle. When Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news regarding Paul George’s plans, it seemed that no teams would try to acquire a player who has already made his decision towards the 2018 free agency. But instead, some teams seem to be willing to take this risk in order to compete with the Golden State Warriors; Cleveland and Boston are reportedly the two teams that are most seriously pursuing Paul George. In the event of George being swayed to join a different team on a long-term deal, the Lakers should focus on the other big names in the 2018 free agency (for example, LeBron James or DeMarcus Cousins) by using the money they would have used to sign Paul George.
Anyway, the Los Angeles Lakers seem to be on the right path to interrupt their nightmare, and Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson are seriously working on it. Starting with their young core, the Lakers will gradually come back to the level of prominence that their franchise has often enjoyed been at throughout history. With guys like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson, the future looks more than bright for the Lakers. If Paul George comes to town, then things will be really interesting soon.
