The Lakers are under the microscope for their lack of trade action during the offseason and one NBA insider has revealed the biggest mistake that was made.
That was the team committing to a four-year $32 million free-agent deal with Max Christie, which includes a four-year player option.
The Athletic’s John Hollinger explains why the deal was an issue.
“The problem was that A) they actually tried him quite a bit (944 minutes across 67 games), and B) he wasn’t any good (8.4 PER, minus-3.6 BPM), such that C) he couldn’t crack the full-strength rotation of what was arguably the worst bench in the league,” Hollinger says.
The move also had a massive flow-on effect for the team, Hollinger explains.
“…What made this move particularly notable was that it took the Lakers out of other scenarios in free agency,” Hollinger writes. “Any team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis needs to be all-in on right now, and the Lakers seemingly passed up a few other opportunities to go in that direction.
“…Christie was another opportunity cost, because the $7.1 million cap number for Christie essentially took the Lakers out of using their taxpayer midlevel exception while still staying below the second apron.”
Besides the Cavs and Celtics, the Lakers franchise was the only team that didn’t make any off-season trade moves.
Looking to the future, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor dropped a bombshell over the weekend, claiming that the LA’s long-term plan involves bagging Dallas superstar Luka Doncic – which might explain the team’s lack of trades over the summer.
“I’ve reported on this podcast and on The Ringer how [the Lakers] have their sights set for Luka. We’ll see if that works out,” he said on The Mismatch. “Dallas just made a Finals, Dallas is looking better than ever with their supporting cast. That may not work out, but the Lakers by not trading their future picks clearly are still thinking long-term at this point. They’re not going all in like you might expect many teams to do with James.”
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