2022 NBA Offseason - Rest in Peace Bill Russell

[burninmylight]

Machiavellian said:

burninmylight said:

The Lakers just traded away their best perimeter defenders to get him, not to mention that Schroeder is likely gone and Matthews is up in the air. The trade will put LAL further over the hard cap, with the only way to improve via free agency being their non-taxpayer mid-level exception (they were actually under the cap during the championship run last year because they created enough space for two max-level roster spots, but only got one in Anthony Davis). So outside of that 9.536 million to play with, LAL can only sign veterans to the NBA minimum salary.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/los-angeles-lakers/cap/

Granted, it's the Lakers, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some aged ring chasers sign on for cheap. With it being so early into the offseason, before trades can become official and free agency having not even begun, I think we should probably hold off on declaring where teams will end up in the playoff picture.

I believe the big thing about this trade is that it will allow LB to rest more.  The amount of mins that LB is running just not going to but it for his age and the Lakers need someone else who can put up good numbers and keep the offense going.  Russ has this ability and with AD as a nice target will allow Russ to continue doing what he does best.  I bet you will see that kind of rotation where either Russ or LB sit first and then they rotate to keep at least 2 prime players on the court at all times.

Yes, the 3 ball is an issue but I would not put it pass the Lakers to find a few old heads who can knock down shots to fill in that position.

If anything the Lakers should be entertaining.

LeBron James '20-'21 minutes per game: 33.4

LeBron James '21-'22 minutes per game: 37.2

You were kind of right though; LeBron started catching up on rest by taking games off when it became clear that the Lakers complete shitshow was sending them straight to Jamaica or the Bahamas here in April!