After winning four of their previous six games, including a 141-132 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers are back at.500.
However, the Lakers’ offense has been more effective during this mini-resurrection than their defense, which is not a guarantee for a deep playoff run.
A trade that would strengthen the Lakers’ defense and provide them with enough shooting to surround their top three players, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves, was suggested by ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks.
This season, Finney-Smith and Dinwiddie have averaged 2.0 3-pointers apiece. By adding Finney-Smith to Jarred Vanderbilt’s defense, the Lakers would have a 48-minute perimeter defense.
The Lakers would strengthen their defense in addition to clearing a sizable amount of debt to give themselves more flexibility in the offseason.
Finney-Smith is owed about $6 million less than Hachimura over the next two seasons, while Dinwiddie’s contract is about to expire.
The Los Angeles Lakers have not lived up to expectations this season. The team battled through injuries to win the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament, but that was the high point of the season thus far, and since then, it has been all downhill. The Lakers presently have a 22-23 record. The Lake Show should not be below.500 when Anthony Davis and LeBron James are healthy, but unfortunately, this is the situation the team finds itself in. Darvin Ham should take the most of the blame for this appalling start. Ham’s dubious decisions with the Lakers
