When we tick down the list of needs for the Lakers in this offseason, pretty much none of which have been addressed, one of the major ones that always comes up is a big guy. The Lakers have no shortage of centers on the roster, of course, with Anthony Davis, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes on board, plus Jarred Vanderbilt, who played some center early in his career but is 6-foot-8 and mostly a power forward these days.
But Wood is a traffic cone on defense and Hayes is a remarkably thin 7-footer (220 pounds) who is really not ready to be a starter. That means the Lakers are pretty much where they’ve always been when it comes to Davis’s role on the team: He’s the starter at center and will need to play the bulk of his minutes at the position, no matter how much he and/or the Lakers want him to play more power forward.
Lakers coach JJ Redick, though, perhaps knowing the buy-in from Davis is critical to his success as the coach both in the short term and long term, has been clear that getting a big man to help Davis is the team’s top goal. Easier said than done, of course, but that’s at least where the team stands now.
JJ Redick: ‘Get Another 5 Man’
Here’s what Redick told Sirius XM Radio over the weekend, via SilverScreenAndRoll.com:
“You certainly have to look at what I think is actually a very good roster, a very balanced roster. We’d love to, we tried, but we’d love to, at some point, get another five man, a big bruising five man.
“You look at the Western Conference right now, whether it’s Denver, Minnesota, OKC with what they added, certainly Memphis, they’re going to be back in the hunt, they added Zach Edey, certain matchups in the playoffs, you’re going to need a lot of size.”
Indeed, the Nuggets have star center Nikola Jokic, and the Timberwolves have Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the middle. The Thunder have Chet Holmgren and added Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, too.
The Lakers do not have size, at either frontcourt position. Even at power forward, it was LeBron James, who is 6-foot-8, who played most of the team’s minutes at that position, with Rui Hachimura behind him. James logged 86% percent of his 2,504 minutes at power forward, and Hachimura played 49% of his 1,826 minutes at power forward, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Lakers Trade Targets Have All Landed Elsewhere
Now, one thing that has become clear over the course of this offseason has been that the Lakers can’t just speak transactions into existence. They could not make Klay Thompson happen, nor DeMar DeRozan, nor Jonas Valanciunas and they most certainly can’t make a Lauri Markkanen deal happen, either.
They may have interest in Wendell Carter Jr. of the Magic if he is put on the trade market, but that has not happened yet.
Beyond those players, the Lakers’ big-man options are limited. Nick Richards of the Hornets has come up, as has Brook Lopez of the Bucks, but both are longshot deals.
Besides which, the Lakers may need to make a transaction to dump a salary before they can make a transaction, to free up room under the luxury tax’s so-called “second apron.” L.A. would like to use its midlevel taxpayer exception, but can’t touch it until they clear room.
That money would likely go to a shooter, though, because there are no starting-quality centers (Precious Achiuwa? Bismack Biyombo?) left on the market.
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JJ Redick Reveals Top Lakers Trade Target: ‘Big & Bruising’