By the time the Lakers had wrapped up their free-agent spending period–it lasted a little more than a half hour to fill up $52 million of cap space, plus a $9 million exception–the general reaction around the NBA was somewhat underwhelmed. L.A. had been aggressive in trading two first-round picks to secure Walker Kessler, the top-shelf big man it had craved to put with star Luka Doncic, and filled in around him with forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, wing Quentin Grimes and point guard Collin Sexton.
It was an odd mish-mash of players, and expensive compared to the players the Lakers lost: LeBron James, Marcus Smart (two-year, $13 million deal in Houston), Luke Kennard (two-year, $13 million deal in Phoenix) and Jaxson Hayes (two-year, $12 million deal in Utah).
But lost in the shuffle is that the Lakers got a good deal younger. Kessler is 24. Grimes is 26. Mamukelashvili and Sexton are 27. Obviously, James is 41, but Kennard is 30 and Smart is 36. Only Hayes, at 26, was relatively young. The talent can be questioned, but if the lakers set out to rebuild a team around Doncic, a team that can grow alongside him, they accomplished that this week.
Lakers Defensive Could ‘Come Together’
Now, about that new Lakers talent: Much of it is still potential, and the Lakers are counting on coaching, development and well-defined new roles to unlock some things, certainly in Kessler, but also in Grimes and Mamukelashvili. (Sexton is a strong scoring guard off the bench–he’s the most known commodity of the group.)
One Eastern Conference coach says those who are panning what the Lakers have done are missing the forest for the trees.
“I look at this defensively, and Kessler can be a monster rim protector, they’re going to count on him for that, but he could work well with a guy like Sandro because Sandro is going to be active, he is going to play with a lot of hustle, he is going make some hustle mistakes–but I want him doing that if he has Kessler behind him,” the coach said.
“It’s the same with Grimes. He is going to get after it defensively. He is going to be streaky offensively, but he is going to be great for you defensively. Now, you need more players. They’re thin. They’ll have to figure that out. But you can see those three guys really playing together a couple of years and coming together as a defensive group.”
Luka Doncic Will Thrive Offensively
Combine that view from how a Western Conference assistant sees the Lakers offensively, and the Lakers figure to be in the mix for a Top 6 playoff seed–with the caveats that everyone stay healthy and the defensive cohesion comes together quickly.
“Luka will go crazy offensively, he should,” the coach said. “He should average 35 again. Austin Reaves should average 23, 24. Kessler is a really good fit for Luka, he is going to get two, three dunks a game. He is going to average 15. They’re young, so they can keep it going up and down. If they’ve got the shooting to keep the floor spaced, that’s going to be a tough, tough team to guard.
“I get where, you lose LeBron James, there are questions, but they’re going to surprise people.”
A Finals threat? Certainly not, not yet. But it is a group that is off to a good start.
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