Post-NBA Free Agency power rankings
By John Buhler
Los Angeles Lakers
West, Pacific
There is a chance that the Los Angeles Lakers could be better than the 27th-best team in basketball next year, but it’s hard to overlook how awful this basketball team has been the last four years. It’s been the worst four-year run in Lakers history, but it might be coming to an end here soon.
That’s because the Lakers have a new tandem in charge of basketball operations in Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka. Two of their biggest moves so far this offseason have been to dump Timofey Mozgov’s contract and the frustrating D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez. The Lakers have also drafted some kid out of UCLA named Lonzo Ball. He might be the next Jason Kidd.
While the Lakers have a long way to go to get back to being championship-caliber, this could be one of the more exciting bad teams in basketball next year. Ball might be the front-runner to win Rookie of the Year. He’ll have a solid supporting cast with Lopez, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr., among others.
Don’t expect the Lakers to try to punt they 2017-18 NBA season. While we shouldn’t expect Ball to turn the Lakers into a playoff team overnight, he did just that with a UCLA Bruins team in his lone year in Westwood. Patience is a virtue, but the Lakers seem to have finally gotten their act together in the aftermath of the Kobe Bryant era. No more bad contracts!