Last summer I attended Sports Business Classroom in Las Vegas during the NBA's Summer League. Throughout the week I learned many things, but my favorite part was the mock offseason practicum. We were separated into groups and assigned an NBA team to take control of, with the goal of fixing the roster by negotiating trades with other groups. At the end of the week we would present to the judges, which consisted of actual former NBA GMs and other executives. Now that the real life Lakers turned their season around and made it to the WCF, I wanted to compare as well as reflect on how my iteration of the Lakers would've performed.
When the groups were announced and I learned I was assigned the Lakers, I put my head into my hands and audibly groaned. It was easily the worst situation in the league, tasked with creating a championship-level supporting cast out of thin air. Most teams with that roster would blow it up and rebuild, but since it's the Lakers and you have LeBron and Anthony Davis, anything other than contending is unacceptable.
For reference, the notables on the Lakers' roster at the time were LeBron, AD, Westbrook, Reaves, Lonnie Walker, THT, Troy Brown Jr, Kendrick Nunn, Thomas Bryant, Max Christie, and Damian Jones. The only tradeable first rounders were in 2027 and 2029, as well as 7 second round picks.
The biggest move we made was sending Westbrook, Reaves, two second rounders, and a 2027 first rounder to Utah for Bojan Bogdanovic, Patrick Beverley, and Rudy Gay. We also got Landry Shamet in this deal as a salary dump for a second rounder. Other trades consisted of THT, Nunn, Christie, and a second to Houston for Eric Gordon; Damian Jones and a second to OKC for Kenrich Williams; and Wenyen Gabriel and two seconds to Dallas for Frank Ntilikina.
The roster we ended up with was Patrick Beverley, Eric Gordon, Bojan, LeBron, AD, Shamet, Ntilikina, Kenrich Williams, Rudy Gay, Thomas Bryant, Lonnie Walker, Armoni Brooks, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Stanley Johnson, Cole Swider (TW), and Jay Huff (TW). Only one first rounder was traded but all 7 second rounders were traded. The judges ranked our performance 3rd out of the 16 student-led teams, a huge accomplishment given where this roster was to start.
I think we did great getting Bojan Bogdanovic from the Westbrook deal. This year in Detroit he had a career year and averaged roughly 22 ppg on 63% TS (+5% relative to the league) with really good 3pt shooting. Getting Eric Gordon and Landry Shamet for as cheap as were also wins, both of which vastly improve the spacing. Eric Gordon is also someone I saw as more of a shot creator than I think most do, he's mastered using his body to move bigger defenders out of his way at the rim to create open looks for himself. He's one of the most effective rim finishers in the league among guards, despite only having 6 dunks total since the bubble.
Other wins were getting Kenrich Williams and Patrick Beverley, serious defenders who are also good enough shooters to punish helping defenses. Regarding Pat Bev, I know the Lakers got him and then later traded him, but he only played on the Westbrook version of the Lakers. I think he would've fit a lot better on a more complete team like this.
I think my biggest miss was trading Austin Reaves. He had much more offensive upside than I projected, and became extremely valuable in real life. In discussions with the Jazz representatives however, they were adamant on getting Reaves back in the Westbrook trade. I could've kept him if I traded both available first round picks, but I thought Reaves was replaceable and valued the picks higher. Frank Ntilikina and Kenrich Williams were supposed to replicate Reaves' production, which didn't pan out. Kenrich had a good season but I overestimated Ntilikina's shooting ability, paying two seconds was not worth it and Reaves proved he was so much more than what I thought he was.
We also didn't have enough depth in two specific areas, ball handing and center play. LeBron is extremely old and is dealing with injuries a lot more often, hurting both his availability and burst off the dribble. Keeping Reaves would've helped with this. Mike Conley was someone we also stayed away from in discussions with Utah, for fear of his age taking his play and dropping it off a cliff. In hindsight however, he was still good this year. Jordan Clarkson was also someone that was available if we traded both first rounders instead of just one. If by trading the other first rounder we were able to both keep Reaves and get Clarkson, I would've done that. In that scenario I think I would've also traded for Conley instead of Eric Gordon to get more ball handling and playmaking from the point guard position rather than another shooting guard. If all that happens, we would've been looking at a team of Conley, Reaves, Bojan, LeBron, and Davis, with a bench of Beverley, Clarkson, Walker, Williams, and others. Still lacks depth from the frontcourt considering how much time LeBron and AD miss, but having a guard rotation like that is something I would be willing to spend the other first round pick on. As far as centers go, there's always free agents you can get throughout the year to fill out the roster. Nerlens Noel and Dewayne Dedmon for example are good defensive centers who became free agents during the year.
But looking back at the moves we did make, I do think my version of the Lakers would've made it just as far as the real life Lakers, and it would've been easier too. Making these moves earlier would've led to better playoff seeding, as opposed to having to win the play-in tournament and then having to beat the 2 seed and defending champs back to back. I don't want to understate how good Bojan Bogdanovic was this year either and how much he would've contributed to this team. He showed a lot more on-ball creation this year than we're used to seeing, while also remaining as an outstanding off-ball player that you can really get creative with. Our 3pt shooting overall would've been comparable to some of the better shooting teams in the league thanks to Bojan, Gordon, Shamet, Beverley, and Kenrich. The defense of this group would also be in the top portion of the league between AD, Pat Bev, Kenrich Williams, and LeBron when he wants to help on the back line. I think my teammates and I did a very good job retooling this Lakers roster and fixing a dire situation, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the real life Lakers do from here on out.
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