1 move every NBA team needs to make to beat the Warriors
By Brad Rowland
Los Angeles Lakers: Spend, Spend, Spend
The Lakers are perhaps the NBA’s flagship franchise, but the sailing has not been smooth lately. Some of the problems on the court in Los Angeles in recent years can be traced to Kobe Bryant and his injury/age situation, but there have been many perplexing moves executed by the front office in order to get here.
On the bright side, the Lakers do have a very young core in place. DeAngelo Russell is a future star, Jordan Clarkson is a valuable role player at a young age and Julius Randle is a double-double machine. Lastly, Los Angeles was able to add Brandon Ingram with the number two pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and he has legitimate superstar potential based on his length and scoring acumen.
In the short term, though, the only way for the Lakers to seriously compete would be via free agency. Convincing Kevin Durant to come to Los Angeles would do wonders, but if the Lakers strike out (and they likely will), names like Hassan Whiteside, Mike Conley and even DeMar DeRozan could come into view. Whiteside would make the most sense given the timeline, but even if the Lakers can’t grab top-end talent, the franchise should be able to use the lure of Los Angeles to entice players to take slightly less to come there.
It may be a few years, but the future is bright.
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