Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[omahen]

As for LA, they had very little time to adjust to the trade.  They backed out of the Williams trade post TDL.  But we know what the template is.  They need to get a starting P&R center who is also a high level defender (Hayes is a perfect backup).  Then they need to surround their three creators with 3&D guys.  They probably should trade Rui for a better defender.

While I could agree with the idea, couple of thoughts after watching LAL after the trade. Rui and Reaves really surprised me. Reaves is great offensively and fights on defense, despite his limitations. Rui is also a pretty versatile offensive player. Very good catch and shoot guy, who can also do other stuff decently. Also plays decent defense and LAL defense is actually one of the best in the league in last 15 to 20 games. Their biggest weakness in the starting lineup is a point of attack defender, but they have several of those guys on the bench in DFS, Vando or Vincent. All of them bring less offense for much better defense. 

Lakers advantage is, that they are very big and most of the guys can play several positions. That is why they will likely play a switch heavy defense with aggresive help on star players. This will work great against teams with at least one iffy shooter, as they will just leave him open and live with the result. See Denver game as a reference - Gordon, Westbrook and Braun were close to 50 % from three on 17 attempts, but wasn't nearly enough for Denver. They played in a similar way against Mavs.

Lakers do start Hayes but basically play him reserve minutes, as most of center minutes are used for a point of attack defender and a small ball line-up. LeBron, Doncic, DFS and Rui are all big enough to give a decent fight even against best bigs, let alone average ones. On the other side, every big will have problems defending them, as Rui and DFS are over 40 % 3pt shooters, before we mention Luka and LeBron. Their small ball will be very very difficult to defend while defense could be decent. Opposing center will have to guard the perimeter and their bunch of big wings will be much stronger than most of opposing defenders. I was surprised they didn't attack Kyrie more in the game against Mavs. 

They will imho have way more troubles against teams with quick guards and a bunch of shooting around them then against teams like Denver or Minny. OKC for example - I think Dallas before the trade was better than them (built to win against them), I can't see Lakers winning against them in a playoff series.  

Number one priority for the offseason will be the center. It would be nice to have a better 3-D player than Rui, but they are short on assets. Only one tradeable FRP and SRP, they do have 3 pick swaps to offer though. They are some 10 mil over the first apron, but all of their contracts are expiring and it shouldn't be a problem to shed salary if needed. Maxi is a prime candidate for that. The best possibility for a better future is actually LeBron. If he would be willing to take considerably less money, a lot of opportunities could open for them. DSF is also a bit of a question mark, as he has a PO at 15 mil, but I kind of doubt anyone would be willing to offer him that money on a longer deal. 

Lakers advantage is, they have a bunch of expiring deals in the 10-20 mil range. Reaves has by far most value, but it would likely take a star player to trade him. Rui has a decent production for his 18 mil. Gabe and Maxi are sallary fillers. I don't see DFS take his PO just to be traded. 

I think they will try to improve while keeping max cap space in 2026/27, which is the year they will imho target another star to join Luka and then build around those two players for the next 4 or 5 year window (they need to plan for post LeBron years). If they keep their picks, they would have 3 tradeable FRP next summer (2026, 31 and 33). This means expiring guys (or guys on rookie deals) would be most likely targets. Perhaps the buddies make another deal that sends Gafford to LA  Mitchel Robinson, Robert Williams or Poeltl could be targets. Perhaps they take a one year flyer on Ayton. Or they go "all in" with Kessler. Or go small with Collins at center. None of this guys should cost a lot in terms of assets. 

Marcus Smart could be a very interesting name for a point of attack defender. He had two bad seasons (buy low), but is only 30 and Washington has no use for him. If the price wouldn't be high, I would take a one year chance to see if he can return to his Boston days.