Getty Former Lakers forward Stanley Johnson.
The Los Angeles Lakers made a concerted effort to go younger this season after putting together the oldest roster in the NBA last season. The decision has helped the team’s defensive rating. Last year, they finished 21st in the league but have moved up to 15th. It’s not as big of an improvement as the team would like but it’s something.
One of the only good defensive players the Lakers had last season was forward Stanley Johnson. However, the team decided not to keep him around and included him in the trade for Patrick Beverley. The veteran forward never got a chance to play with the Utah Jazz and was most recently with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA G League. He’s now getting another chance in the NBA.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Johnson is signing a one-year deal with the San Antonio Spurs.
The San Antonio Spurs are signing veteran forward Stanley Johnson to a one-year deal, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
He first came into the league as the eighth overall pick of the Detroit Pistons but was never quite able to live up to his draft status. That said, he’s still a solid player who gives a ton of effort on the defensive side of the ball. The Spurs have one of the weaker teams in the NBA right now so there should be an opportunity for Johnson to play some minutes.
Lakers Still Looking to Make Roster Moves
The Lakers are in a tough position right now. They dug themselves into a hole when they started off 0-5. Since then, the team has gone 11-10 and has been playing well as of late. Anthony Davis has been playing at an MVP level in recent weeks and is still healthy despite missing a couple of games recently.
If he can keep up his current pace, the Lakers could be a dangerous team in the playoffs. Now that they know this, the odds of them making a trade soon greatly increase. Bojan Bogdanovic appears to be a player the team really wants but the Detroit Pistons don’t seem eager to trade him. There’s been recent chatter of DeMar DeRozan being a target but the Bulls likely still need to lose some more games before they consider trading him. As the season goes on, the Lakers do appear to have more options but they have to start winning games at a higher rate before it’s too late. If a good trade materializes soon, the team has to make it happen soon.
Lakers Trending Up?
Based on how the season started, it looked like the Lakers could be one of the worst teams in the NBA. Now that they’ve started to find their grove, it’s clear that they are an average team, at the very least. The fact that they have two top-10 players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis means they can’t be ruled out.
Shaun Powell of NBA.com recently named the Lakers as one of the teams that is trending up:
The conversation with the Lakers has suddenly shifted to Anthony Davis and the MVP race. That’s a refreshing pivot for a team that has won eight of its last 10, saw its season flip and rescued the franchise from a rut. Davis is enjoying one of the best stretches of his career — certainly on the level of bubble/restart Davis and New Orleans Pelicans-era Davis — and even better, he’s healthy and sturdy. It’s really the best scenario for a team that struggled out of the gate and saw all the old demons surface, namely Russell Westbrook’s steady fall. But now look: Nobody’s targeting Westbrook, who looks solid off the bench. LeBron James is back from injury and pushing the limits of a 20-year player. Best of all, Davis is aggressive and behaving like a man who wants to be “That Guy” who carries a team and changes the narrative.