Lakers Must Prioritize Defense at Deadline amid NBA Trade Rumors
If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to crash the NBA championship party this season, they need to find a dominant trait.
Given their offensive limitations, constructing a stone-wall defense feels like their best bet, though it's not without its challenges.
Top stopper Jarred Vanderbilt was recently lost to a right foot injury, and while there's no official timetable on his absence, "the current expectation is that he will likely miss the rest of the season," per The Athletic's Jovan Buha. It comes as no surprise, then, to hear the team "is putting a greater emphasis on adding a defensive wing by the trade deadline," per Buha.
Improving the defense, particularly on the perimeter, has to be the team's priority this week leading up to Thursday's deadline.
The Defense Is Solid, but It Needs to Be Special
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The Lakers will have a theoretical puncher's chance in any playoff series by virtue of having both Anthony Davis and LeBron James. To give themselves a realistic shot at the crown, though, they need to build the kind of defensive juggernaut they've been at the height of the Davis-James era.
The 2019-20 championship team had the third-most efficient defense in the entire Association, per NBA.com. That's obviously a sky-high bar to clear, but any time you're plotting a title-winning path for a 26-25 team, the challenge will be immense.
These Lakers need to find a go-to strength, and it almost certainly won't be their 20th-ranked offensive attack. Even if they add a significant scoring threat like Dejounte Murray this week, they probably won't crack the top 10 in offensive efficiency.
It's possible, though, that their 15th-ranked defense could crack at least the league's top third. Davis is a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate, and when James dials in at that end, his size and smarts make him a tough matchup for almost anyone. Still, they have major question marks at the point of attack, and Vanderbilt's injury—coupled with Gabe Vincent's ongoing absence—has only made that issue harder to solve.
They Can Afford a Lockdown Defender
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The Lakers, you may have heard a time or 10, don't have the deepest collection of trade chips. Because they've basically been chasing championships ever since James arrived in 2018, they've already unloaded multiple draft picks and haven't kept (or developed) much young talent.
While you could absolutely label their asset pool as shallow, though, that's not the same thing as calling it bone-dry.
L.A. has a future first it can put on the table, either in 2029 or 2030. The Lakers can offer swap rights on multiple first-round picks. They have four second-rounders to dangle. They also have a couple of young sweeteners in Max Christie and Jalen Hood-Schifino.
Combine any of the above with one of several mid-sized salaries on the books (D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura seem the likeliest candidates), and L.A. should be able to get a high-end role player who does his best work on the defensive end. There just happen to be several trade candidates who fit that exact description.
There Are Defensive Upgrades Available
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As much as it would help if the Lakers landed a difference-making defender, that probably isn't happening. They inquired about former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, but the Memphis Grizzlies "shut down any overtures for the veteran guard," per Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer. The Chicago Bulls' sky-high asking price for Alex Caruso seemingly rules out a potential Lakers reunion with the 2022-23 All-Defensive first-teamer.
Saying that, though, there are good-to-really-good stoppers the Lakers should be eyeing.
Toronto Raptors swingman Bruce Brown could be an option. Same goes for Brooklyn Nets wings Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O'Neale. Murray's defensive reputation has taken a big hit since he joined the Atlanta Hawks, but maybe a move to L.A. would restart his engine on the game's less glamorous end. Matisse Thybulle of the Portland Trail Blazers and Jae'Sean Tate of the Houston Rockets could land somewhere on L.A.'s wish list. Washington Wizards guard Delon Wright might have some bargain-bin appeal.
The overarching point, though, is there are stoppers who are available and presumably within the Lakers' trade budget. L.A. needs to add at least one between now and Thursday if it wants any shot at replicating last season's post-deadline surge.
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