The Lakers, Celtics and Cavaliers are the only three teams who haven’t added any new players through free agency or trade this offseason. Of the three, Los Angeles is the one with the least clarity about its lineup for next season.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic evaluates the Lakers’ depth chart and offers his predictions about who will take the fifth starter spot. With LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell looking like surefire starters, Buha lands on Rui Hachimura over Jarred Vanderbilt for the fifth slot.
Buha points to L.A.’s offensive production and 22-10 record with Hachimura in the lineup to close last season as major reasons why he views him as the frontrunner.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Lauri Markkanen‘s massive payday with the Jazz is a testament to patience, perseverance, and opportunity, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic. As Jones details, Markkanen didn’t often look like a future star in Chicago or Cleveland, but continued to work on improving his skill set and got the kind of runway in Utah that he hadn’t received at his previous NBA stops. Two years after joining the Jazz, Markkanen has an All-Star berth, a Most Improved Player award, and a new $200MM+ contract under his belt.
- With Luke Kennard back in the fold, marginal moves are the ones that will define the rest of the Grizzlies‘ offseason, Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. Deciding whether or not to keep Mamadi Diakite is the most significant move involving players currently on the roster. Parting ways with Diakite would open a spot on the 15-man roster, but there’s no urgency to make a decision right away. Outside of that, a possible rookie scale extension for Santi Aldama is another piece of offseason or preseason business to watch.
- The difference in outside discourse regarding Jamal Murray between this offseason and last year is drastic, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post observes. Murray was fresh off playing a key role in the Nuggets winning their first championship a year ago, but underachieved in the 2024 playoffs and in the Olympics, Durando writes. While it shouldn’t be discounted that he was playing a different role – and played through injury – Murray’s struggles this year are poorly timed, given that he’s expected to sign a lucrative long-term extension this summer.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Lauri has been in the league for quite a few years, has had one good year, and is now being paid amongst the best in the w league. And, his good year came a terrible team, not usually a good sign. Intriguing player who would have been fun to watch on the warriors, but these salaries are getting outrageous.
They are the same exact salaries
Use cap% instead of raw dollars when analyzing players moving forward
you going by the cap, 1st, 2nd apron? i’ll go by the 2nd. he isn’t worth the 28ish% average of the teams money.
Lakers hahahahaha hahahahaha awe man run it back….fun watching this train wreck. Did any team have a worse off season? All in back to back rigged season tournament lol.
Just wait until Bronny wins In-Season Tourney MVP making it the ultimate of back to back wins. I’m really looking forward to the 30 for 30 special years from now on ESPN celebrating those two great achievements.
Markkanen absolutely showed he could be a star his rookie year in Chicago, I dont know why people forget how well he did in Chicago until a certain whitw bald man came by