The Lakers were swept out of the Western Conference Finals and are facing several big decisions in NBA Free Agency. Here are the biggest.
The Los Angeles Lakers had one of the greatest in-season turnarounds in NBA history. At the start of the season, they were 2-10. At the trade deadline, they were 25-31 and the No. 13 seed. They would finish the season 43-39 and would find themselves in the Western Conference Finals.
Unfortunately, the magical run for the Lakers ended up with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. This new Lakers team was a well-fit team but only five players on the roster are under contract for next season. The Lakers have a lot of questions and decisions to make heading into free agency.
Lakers biggest offseason decisions: 3. Keeping Austin Reaves
One of the biggest surprises for the Lakers this season was the emergence of the undrafted kid from Oklahoma — Austin Reaves. On the season he averaged 13 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, shooting 53 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3 and 86 percent from the free throw line. He really stepped it up for the Lakers over their last 26 games where he averaged 16.4 points, 3 rebounds, 5.1 assists on 57.4 percent shooting from the field, 44 percent from 3 and 85 percent from the free throw line.
Reaves would continue his success in the playoffs, being the Lakers' third leading scorer averaging 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists on 46/44/90 splits. In the Conference Finals, he would average 21.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists on 55/56/100 splits. On the biggest stage, he performed at the highest level.
Reaves is going into the 2023 free agency as a restricted free agent. The Lakers can offer him an extension but there are fears that there are other teams that are willing to offer him a much bigger contract than what the Lakers can afford. If a team is willing to offer him a $100 million dollar contract, the Lakers will have a tough decision about matching, potentially needing to let other players go to keep Reaves.
Reaves has given every reason for the Lakers to keep him but signing a contract that big will hurt their chances of signing more role players or another big star.
Lakers biggest offseason decisions: 2. Keeping Rui Hachimura
Another great pickup for the Lakers in the middle of the season was Rui Hachimura. In his 33 regular season games in L.A., he would average 9.6 points and 4.7 rebounds shooting 49 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3. In the playoffs, he would show up huge for the Lakers, averaging 12.2 points and 3.6 rebounds shooting 56 percent from the field and 49 percent from 3.
Rui's performance in the playoffs has put a lot more pressure on the Lakers to keep him around. Rui, like Reaves, is going into free agency as a restricted free agent. The Lakers will have the right to match any offer that he receives but matching a decently high offer could end up hurting their depth and ability to sign other players.
If the Lakers were to keep Rui and Reaves that means that they could potentially lose out on keeping players such as D'Angelo Russell and Lonnie Walker IV, who also played key roles for the Lakers. But based on the playoffs, it would be much wiser for them to keep Rui and Reaves and lose both of those players than to re-sign D'Lo and lose out on both Rui and Reaves
Lakers biggest offseason decisions: 1. Keeping LeBron James
Following the Lakers' loss in Game 4, LeBron James hinted at the fact he's considering retirement. At the end of his 20th season and the age of 38 years old he averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists on 50 percent shooting from the field. In the playoffs, he was the Lakers' leading scoring at 24.5 points, along with 9.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
Even at his advanced age, LeBron is still one of the best players in all of basketball but, it was very visible that he hit the wall after his phenomenal 31-point half in Game 4. He appeared to be taking possessions off on offense because he simply couldn't attack.
Now that we know retirement has crept into the mind of LeBron James, the Lakers have to do everything in their power to keep him because he is still capable of playing at a high level. The Lakers need to surround LeBron with enough talent for him to coast in the regular season and when the playoffs come around, have more left in the tank.
The Lakers also need to make sure that LeBron stays away from the injury bug. For all of his seasons in L.A. besides 2020, he has been hurt. This year his foot injury probably had plagued him in the playoffs.
There is nothing more important for the Lakers than coming up with a plan to make sure that LeBron doesn't retire.
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.
