Lakers' Top Needs in 2024 NBA Offseason
If everything goes according to plan, the 2024 NBA offseason will be the Los Angeles Lakers' springboard back into championship contention.
Clearly, there's work to be done after this season yielded only the West's No. 7 seed (secured in the play-in tournament) and a first-round exit. But as long as Anthony Davis and LeBron James remain on the roster—the latter can reach free agency, but staying in L.A. remains the likeliest scenario—this team will have a place in title talks.
As for that work, though, there is plenty of it, so let's narrow the focus by spotlighting the Lakers' three biggest summer needs.
Shooting
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This feels a little like spinning a broken record, as James himself has been lamenting this team's lack of "lasers" for years now. Until the front office actually goes and snags some spacers, though, consider this a standing item on the wish list.
The Lakers at least enjoyed some accuracy from three this season, posting the Association's eighth-best connection rate (37.7). Still, the volume in this aerial attack was almost silent. They finished just 24th in made threes, and that was arguably impressive considering they were only 28th in attempts.
This lack of quantity is a self-inflicted wound that doesn't need to linger any longer. Not when adequate spacing could turn this attack, which wound up a forgettable 15th in efficiency, per NBA.com, into a nightmare for opposing defenses.
Opponents are already stretched thin while attempting to contain both James and Davis. Add quantity-plus-quality shooters to the equation, and you could have a pick-your-poison scenario.
Shot-Creation
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L.A.'s shooting shortage isn't the reason this offense underwhelmed. It wasn't awful, obviously, but for a team getting 50-plus points per outing—and, more importantly, 147 appearances—from the James-Davis duo, you'd want more than mediocrity.
The Lakers didn't always have enough places to turn for self-sufficient scoring, though. Players like D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura all could catch fire, but they seldom stayed ablaze.
To dig into this even deeper, just look at Russell—the most productive of the three—and his performance in the Purple and Gold's five postseason games. He cooked in Games 2 and 4, netting 21-plus points on 50-plus percent shooting. He struggled in Games 1 and 5, needing 35 total shots to tally his 27 points. And he went totally absent in Game 3, shooting 0-of-7 from the field and 0-of-6 from distance over his 24 scoreless minutes.
This kind of volatility from the stars' top support players is tough to stomach. L.A. has to find more places it can confidently turn to find something-out-of-nothing scoring.
Third Star
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On one hand, it feels a little strange to suggest a team with James and Davis on it is lacking in star power. On the other, the team has essentially admitted as much.
As Jovan Buha of The Athletic relayed, the Lakers "are going third-star hunting this offseason." And given their strong collection of trade chips, they should have enough to reel in a big fish.
How big are we talking? That answer won't surface until later this summer. But if you see some of the names floating around—Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, Brandon Ingram—clearly the hope is to make a cannonball-sized splash.
As it should be. The Lakers just got 70-plus games out of James and Davis and still had to find their way out of the play-in just to be knocked out of the opening round. This roster needs another difference-maker. This is the time to get one.
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