Lakers Rumors: Latest on Paul George Rumblings and Upcoming Roster Decisions
The arrow seems to finally be pointing up for the Los Angeles Lakers heading into a critical offseason.
While the Lakers normally pop up as so-called "contenders" for big names and receive a spotlight for even the smallest moves, this time feels different. A young core just helped the franchise win more than 30 games in a season for the first time since 2012-13.
No longer do the Lakers look like a bargaining chip free agents use to drive up the price elsewhere. Likewise, the prestige of the franchise throughout history isn't the main selling point anymore, not with a high-upside core featuring Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and other promising names.
As the hype for the Lakers this offseason starts to build, let's take an early look at some of the biggest rumors surrounding the franchise.
This one has been a long time in the coming.
When Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti traded for Paul George, an alarm seemed to go off in Los Angeles. The Lakers could scoop George up the following offseason because there was no chance he'd want to stay in town with Russell Westbrook, barring a championship.
And here we are. The George-Westbrook tandem only won two playoff games while going down at the hands of Utah, a passing of the torch of sorts in a Western Conference littered with rising teams.
George could help the Lakers be the next.
According to Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post, the Lakers already headline the conversation: "Ask people today—particularly in the wake of this first-round exit—and they’ll say the Lakers still remain the favorites to get him this summer."
The hometown kid returning is a fun storyline, and George could be a nice complementary piece while playing alongside guys like Ingram, even if he did slightly underwhelm as the Thunder took their bow out of the playoffs.
While the disparity here seems to suggest George won't want to leave a playoff team for the rebuilding Lakers, this is finally looking like a situation where his arrival could help the team return to the playoffs anyway. He's still only 28 years old, so the patience while helping a young core grow could go a long way in the legacy departement—all from the comforts of home.
Draft Prep Begins
When it comes to roster decisions made by the Lakers, nothing has been bigger lately than the NBA draft.
The Lakers front office has done a superb job of building through the draft, taking obvious names like Ball and Ingram, but also finding nice depth pieces who can contribute or help move the needle in trades.
This should be no exception in 2018 as the Lakers are already making waves on the visit market, as noted by Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times:
The quest here is to find the next Kyle Kuzma or Josh Hart. The former was the 27th pick in 2017 and responded well in the spotlight, averaging 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game over 31.2 minutes. The latter was the 30th pick and flashed with 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds over 23.2 minutes.
Senior Houston guard Rob Gray might be the biggest name to know here, as the 6'1", 185-pound guard posted 19.3 points, 4.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds on 44.7 percent shooting from the floor a year ago.
Florida's Jalen Hudson was an efficient weapon as well, averaging 15.5 points over 26.6 minutes by way of shooting 45.5 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from deep. Meanwhile, Ohio State's Keita Bates-Diop is a forward who averaged 19.8 points and 8.7 rebounds and is a top-20 prospect, according to Jonathan Givony's rankings at ESPN.
The Lakers have plenty of options at No. 25 in the draft, with the visits they're already lining up starting to hint at a strategy.
Isaiah Thomas
The downfall of Isaiah Thomas creates quite the interesting dilemma for the Lakers.
Los Angeles didn't get much out of Thomas over the 17 games he managed to play, as he posted averages of 15.6 points and five assists over 26.8 minutes, battling an injury he opted not to get surgery for and casting a cloud over his trip to free agency.
Thomas is no longer the guy who averaged nearly 30 points per game for the Boston Celtics just a few years ago before the downward spiral started.
According to Ganguli, Thomas has said he wouldn't mind sticking around in a backup role. But Sporting News' Sean Deveney spoke with an NBA executive who says Thomas is going to find a tough market: “Just given the way he played last year, I think you can’t go more than one year on him. Maybe you can do two years if you hold the second year at your option. That’s before you even get into whether he is healthy.”
While Thomas eventually settled down and had surgery, the damage to his market might be done. The Lakers might have to decide if they want to use some of that valuable cap space on keeping around a backup who might not get back to 100 percent. The upside is a 29-year-old guard with elite scoring numbers; the downside is the opportunity cost and ripping chances from a guy like Hart.
Really, the team's decision might provide a good indication of whether it will stick to what's worked via the draft or start moving more in the other direction with veterans and free agents.
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