PREVIOUS SEASON: 33-49 (11^th Seed)

2018/2019 SEASON: 22-60 (12^th Seed)

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

The Lakers have been in a full blown rebuild mode for the last year and a half and they virtually hit rock bottom this season. The team finished the season 11 wins fewer than the previous season and there was nothing about this season that would have been too enjoyable for the fans or even the Lakers franchise for that matter, but that’s what rebuilds are all about. On a positive note for Greenmig and the Lakers, they certainly do have some nice young pieces to now build around and the future looks a little brighter which we will discuss later. br>

SEASON LOWLIGHT

Greenmig has never been one to let seasons just slip away and not attempt to atleast cause some upsets to shape the seeding within the conference when his team is down. This season however, maybe that should have been the case at some point? With what was classed as a relatively thin draft class The Lakers Fans would have wanted to let the team blow it up even more to gain as high a pick as possible. Maybe this did happen throughout the season and Greenmig is very good at hiding it, but I am still a believer that Greeny and the Lakers are too proud to go down that path.

BEST TRADE

The Lakers weren’t a massive player in the trade market like a lot of teams this season. The team are banking on their stash of draft picks to hopefully find a gem to continue their rebuild for the future.

LA. LAKERS RECEIVE: Jerami Grant

BROOKLYN RECEIVE: Jerryd Bayless, 30gm pts

The Lakers easily won this deal in my opinion. To gain a player who is about to crack the top 100 in the ESPN rankings for virtually nothing is a great result. Grant is still young and fits the timeline for the rebuild of the Lakers perfectly. He also holds some value on the trade market too if that is the way Greenmig was willing to go to add more to this team moving forward.

WORST TRADE

LA. LAKERS RECEIVE: Evan Turner, Cody Zeller, Henry Ellenson, 1st (2020 – DET) #48 (Quinndary Weatherspoon)

DALLAS RECEIVE: Nikola Vucevic

NOTE: There is more to this deal with others involved, this is the Lakers side.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The Lakers would have been certain that Vucevic would walk from the team at the end of the season meaning they might likely get nothing for him. The team would have also not predicted that Vucevic would have a career year and sky rocket in ratings and become one of the best Center’s in the league. Apart from that, The Lakers will be banking on the 2020 1st rounder to become a good one this season. If the Pistons have a bad year then all may not be lost if the Lakers can secure a young talent for years to come.

OTHER NOTABLE TRADES

LAKERS RECEIVE: Noah Vonleh, #42 (Justin Wright-Foreman), #56(Alan Smailagic)

DETROIT RECEIVE: Marcus Morris

BOSTON RECEIVE: Nene Hilario

The Lakers would have been thrilled to receive the emerging Noah Vonleh for the expiring Morris. The possibility of him leaving LA is definitely there, but Greenmig won’t let that just happen he surely has a plan. He signed a cheap 1 year deal compared to Morris who would have walked and is demanding $15mil for one season.

FREE AGENCY

The Lakers won’t be a massive player in free agency this year. They have a S&T deal lined up for Malcom Brogdon, and only a couple players they will be looking to resign. With one more year left on deals such as Bazemore, Williams and Turner they will look forward to next off season when they can get these players off their books and reload for a shot at some decent talent to add to the growing roster.

STAR

MALCOM BROGDON – One of the only highlights for the Lakers this season, and he is on the way out with a “trade demand” which forced the Lakers hand and they had to get a deal done. He led from the front but with not much help behind him it was always going to be the way this season. With the youth coming through for the Lakers hopefully the return for Brogdon who will get a nice pay day this season is a good return and sets the Lakers up for years to come.

GOAT

MARVIN WILLIAMS –Always tough to pick this, but when you are being paid $15mil per season and are one of the better players on a poor team your output needs to be the same if not better than the previous season. Williams is just laughing his way to the Bank at the moment, and the Lakers will be thrilled to move on from him (and others) to look to the future.

DRAFT GRADES

#7 Darius Garland

The Lakers had more draft picks than just Garland, but there has been a lot of movement for the Lakers post draft so we will concentrate on their prized #7 pick Darius Garland.

The Lakers were amazingly lucky here with this pick. Garland could have easily been one of the best Point Guard in this draft if not for injury. The Kid is super talented and could easily become an All-Star one day. With Brogdon on the way out, this is a prefect replacement straight away and Greenmig will be eagerly awaiting the season to see what this kid is capable of doing.

THE FUTURE

The Lakers have been building, and will continue to build this roster through the draft and youth. For the coming season I don’t think expectations will be too high for this young team, but a year to build around what they already have is the way to go. With big contracts coming off the books at the end of this season Greenmig will let the year play out and look forward to the new and improved Free Agency period post season.

Good luck to Greenmig and the Lakers for the coming year, and the future beyond.