The Lakers are desperate for their next Kobe. Is he in the draft or already on the roster?
As each NBA team is eliminated from the 2016-17 title chase, The Washington Post will look ahead to what it has in store for this offseason. The series continues with the Los Angeles Lakers, who were eliminated from playoff contention this week.
2017 draft picks
First round: Their own (if it remains inside the top three picks), Houston’s.
Second round: Their own.
2017-18 salary cap space (with projected $102 million cap)
$23.1 million (Nine players with $69.6 million in guaranteed contracts, Three draft picks worth $8.5 million and one roster charge worth $815,615). Doesn’t include a $5.7 million player option for Nick Young or Tarik Black’s non-guaranteed $6.6 million contract for next season.
2017 free agents
PG Tyler Ennis, SF Metta World Peace, PF Thomas Robinson
Five questions to answer
Will the Lakers keep their first-round pick?
This year’s NBA draft lottery will be the most anticipated in years — likely going all the way back to when everyone wondered where LeBron James would go in 2003, and the uncertainty surrounding the Lakers pick is a big reason why. For a third straight season, the Lakers are going into the lottery hoping to hang onto their top-three protected first rounder. Two years ago, the Lakers wound up with the second pick, and took D’Angelo Russell. Last year, they also got the second pick, and took Brandon Ingram.
So what will happen this time? Well, the Lakers would be thrilled to get the second pick again, because whether they pick first or second, there is a near universal feeling that the team’s new brain trust, led by Magic Johnson, would draft 6-foot-6 UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball, giving Johnson his franchise point guard of the future.
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Obviously Ball is a huge talent — as is Washington’s Markelle Fultz, the other consensus top two pick — so being able to get one of them would be a boon for the Lakers. But here’s the other reason why this is a huge deal: If the Lakers keep their pick this year, their obligation to the Philadelphia 76ers — who will get the pick if it falls outside the top three — would become an unprotected first rounder next season. That would also mean that the 2019 first rounder the Lakers owe the Orlando Magic from the Dwight Howard trade would then become a pair of second-round picks.
Therefore, if the Lakers keep their pick this season, it would actually mean they keep two first rounders. This is why everyone will be holding their breath to see where the Lakers fall on Lottery Night in May.
2. How will a Magic Johnson-Rob Pelinka front office operate?
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss stayed within the Laker family when she whacked longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak and her brother, Jim, last month, installing Johnson as the team’s president of basketball operations and less than two days later, hiring Pelinka — Kobe Bryant’s longtime agent — to be the team’s general manager.
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Johnson has never run a team before and Pelinka — while a highly respected agent, representing stars like Bryant and James Harden, among others — hasn’t either, making this a big gamble. The expectation is that the combination of Johnson and Pelinka will allow the Lakers to become players in free agency again, and Pelinka’s knowledge of the way the league operates will make up for Johnson’s deficiencies in those areas.
Whether it will work, though, remains to be seen. And the truth is, it is hard to come up with a reason why the Lakers are better served with Johnson and Pelinka running the team for the next two months as opposed to having a full search for possible candidates after the season ends. Buss had no interest in conducting such a search, however, opting to go with people she knows and trusts. Time will tell if her instincts, in this instance, prove to be correct.
3. What does the future hold for D’Angelo Russell?
This may be the most fascinating of the questions facing the Lakers. Russell has largely disappointed in his two seasons as a pro, failing to live up to the lofty expectations placed upon him when the Lakers took him ahead of Jahlil Okafor — good move — and Kristaps Porzingis — not-so-good move — with the second pick in 2015.
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Russell has put up respectable numbers — he’s averaging 15.4 points and 4.7 assists, both slightly up from last year — while shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from three-point range, which is essentially where he was last season. But he hasn’t looked like someone with the potential to be an all-star-caliber player, has struggled with confidence at times, and even was benched recently, a move seen as both a chance to try other options and to potentially send him a message.
Russell responded by scoring 40 points to set a new career high against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, as part of a starting lineup playing alongside Jordan Clarkson — something Russell has publicly pushed for. But he’s a minus defensively, as is Clarkson, making that lineup an untenable one long term. Then there’s the possibility of Ball arriving in Los Angeles next season, which would permanently shift Russell down the depth chart.
If the Lakers keep their pick, Russell becomes an obvious trade piece. If they don’t, they will desperately need him to take the step forward he, to this point, hasn’t. His development will be fascinating to watch.
4. What does the future hold for Brandon Ingram?
Given Ingram came into the league listed at 6 feet 9 and 190 pounds, it was clear he was going to be a project. But the Lakers have given Ingram a ton of minutes, averaging close to 30 per game this season, and the production has been lacking.
Beyond the counting stats being less than impressive — which isn’t all that important at this stage of his career — Ingram is shooting just 29 percent from behind the three-point arc, and 39 percent from the field overall. The one thing Ingram was expected to be able to contribute right away, in some form, was shooting from deep. He knocked down 41 percent of his three-pointers as a freshman at Duke last season.
Scouts and executives are mixed on Ingram’s potential. Some, including the Lakers, view him as a potential superstar, and point to the development of Giannis Antetokounmpo as hope for Ingram’s ability to become a transcendent player in the future. Others look at him as more of a role player over the long term, someone who can become a long-limbed defender and shooter on the perimeter — a valuable player, to be sure, but not the star the Lakers are looking for.
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It seems more likely that Russell than Ingram would be used as trade bait this summer, but Ingram finds himself in a similar position. If the Lakers keep their pick, he could be most valuable to them to help snag a star. If they don’t, they’ll need him to become the star they hope he can be.
5. Will the Lakers push their chips in for a star no matter what happens?
Los Angeles hosts the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. And make no mistake: If Jeanie Buss has learned anything from her father, the late Dr. Jerry Buss, it’s the importance of the Lakers having stars.
So, whether the Lakers keep the No. 2 overall pick or not, expect names such as Paul George, Jimmy Butler and DeMarcus Cousins to be bandied about as trade options to deliver the Lakers the face of the franchise they crave in the wake of Bryant’s retirement.
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If the Lakers do keep the pick, and get to take, say, Ball, it will become more palatable to move some young pieces for a star like George or Butler. But if they don’t, will they be willing to roll the dice and go into free agency next summer hoping to get George — a Californian who has been heavily linked with going to the Lakers if he reaches free agency — to come there without giving up any players, only to potentially have him either sign somewhere else or get traded somewhere else that he comes to enjoy?
All of these are questions the Lakers will have to ask themselves over the next few months. And all of them come back to the same theme: This will be a wild summer in Lakerland, where all NBA drama and intrigue this spring and summer — at least off the court — will begin.
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