The Los Angeles Lakers ended their season on a disappointing note, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games in the first round. L.A. was favored in that series, having home-court advantage and being the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. But Minnesota was the better team through and through.
This opened the door for questions about the types of moves the Lakers might make in the offseason. It was well-known that L.A. needed a starting-caliber center — and maybe another one off the bench — but questions even began circulating about if a core of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James could win together in a modern NBA.
Markieff Morris gave his thoughts on the Lakers offseason plans, wanting the team to steer away from wholesale changes and explained why, via “Get Up” on ESPN:
“I think ultimately, Luka does re-sign. Now, is it four years? Is it two years? But, ultimately, I think he will be there. What I think they need to make happen to the roster, I think it’s minor tweaks. You’re in a position where LeBron has maybe two years left and he’s trying to win right now, so I don’t think bringing in a ton of new pieces and revamping the team makes a lot of sense. I think where they were this year, we were really close to winning, so it’s just minor tweaks. You may get a big in there, but I don’t think you move core pieces to get a big and mess the team up. When it reality, you only really need one big for the big fella in Joker, to be able to get to the Finals. So I don’t think you want to put too much into that. I think you come back with the same core pieces and you just add maybe a big and you keep growing your team through working them out and trying to figure out what’s the next steps.”
Morris’ argument is interesting. From his perspective within the locker room, he doesn’t believe the team was as far away from contending as their playoff performance would suggest. And maybe there’s some validity to the idea that trading away core pieces sets the team back when chemistry has been such a strong focus in this year’s NBA Finals.
However, the facts are that the Lakers won just one playoff game this year, and they need to figure out a way to have a chance at winning 16 next season. And to do that, they may need to make some larger core changes.
Lakers’ trade talks for Walker Kessler have not reached serious stages
It is very well known that the Lakers are in the market for a center this offseason. In fact, the team has been looking for a big man even before they traded for Luka in February and one name that has come up numerous times is Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler.
Kessler is one of the best young bigs in the NBA today who led the league in offensive rebounds per game, ranked fifth in total rebounds per game, and second in blocks. The Lakers have been linked to him for quite some time and it was even briefly reported that they had recently made an offer to Utah for the center.
However, it now seems that isn’t the case as recent reports indicate trade talks have not reached the serious stages yet.
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