5 reasons the Lakers need Paul George

1. Lessens Pressure on Lakers in Free Agency

As stated, the Lakers have big plans for this offseason and a big part of that is the immense room that they have under the salary cap this summer. While many teams have a good deal of room as the cap jumps with the new TV deal kicking in, the Lakers have a ridiculous amount on their books with over $60 million in room this summer to try and sign players.

However, Lakers fans—and Lakers detractors for that matter—won’t soon forget what happened last summer in regards to their major free agency pursuits. It felt like the front office was almost banking on signing LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency and the Lakers were basically laughed out of their first meeting with Aldridge. Subsequently, there is a ton of pressure on the front office coming into free agency in that they will get their act together and ultimately land a big fish.

What trading for Paul George would do, though, is eliminate so much of that pressure in free agency. The Lakers would get their star player and get the proverbial big fish that they so desperately desire to help lead the organization into a new era, but also wouldn’t have to rely on making the right type of pitches to the right players so that they sign in Los Angeles on the open market.

Really, that’s the best of both worlds for the Lakers franchise and the front office. They get to have their cake and eat it too, in essence. Considering how scarce cake has been in Los Angeles over the past two years, that would be more than welcome and, most Lakers fans would agree, needs to happen.