During the 2019-20 season, the Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th NBA championship despite not having the best roster in the league.
They did so behind the strength of their two superstars – LeBron James and Anthony Davis – as well as a withering defense that created ample fast-break and early offense buckets for them.
Los Angeles had one of the best records in the NBA midway through the following season when Davis and James suffered major injuries that caused them to miss a considerable amount of time.
Since then, the team has made some roster decisions that many around the league have derided. In the eyes of many, the Lakers basically dismantled a championship roster for no good reason.
One key 3-and-D wing for them during their championship season referred to these changes and implied that they have a poorly constructed roster.
Via Lakers Daily:
“Current Memphis Grizzlies small forward Danny Green seemed to concur when speaking with Howard Beck on ‘The Crossover.’
“‘We know what happened,’ said Green. ‘I think it’s interesting, I mean all the teams that I’ve played for, you try to see what kind of moves they make, what direction they’re going in, and especially if you win a championship there, it’s home, you have some type of invested feeling toward that city, toward that group, toward some of the players that are still there, the organization. I mean we know what happened. Things have changed. They have Dennis (Schroder) back now for cheaper. I thought he was a good fit for them. I thought there was a lot of good pieces that were good fits for them that they let go or traded away and they thought they had a better fit. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what you need around LeBron and AD (Anthony Davis).'”
The big move most criticize the Lakers for is the trade that sent out Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma and a first-round draft pick for Russell Westbrook. In addition, the team also elected not to re-sign Alex Caruso, a key role player who was extremely popular with fans.
The result was a very poorly constructed roster last season.
This season’s roster is somewhat better constructed, but the lack of 3-and-D wings is glaring, and the team could sorely use players such as Green, Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma to fill that void.
