Lakers More Likely To Upgrade Supporting Cast Than Trade For Star?

May 30, 2024

The Los Angeles Lakers know they need some help after losing to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Goodness knows, they’re not getting any younger. LeBron James turns 40 years old in December and Anthony Davis, as great as he is, often seems older than his 31 years because of injuries.

So now, the Lakers will spend the offseason looking for help. But it appears it will be help around the edges, and not necessarily another big name. That’s the suggestion from Jovan Buha of The Athletic in his latest video mailbag.

“My sense right now is they’re leaning more toward upgrading the supporting cast rather than the three-star model,” Buha said. “And I say that for a couple reasons. One, it’s difficult to trade for a star. There’s going to be a lot of competition this offseason. So I think if a star is willing to demand a trade and say that they only want to go to the Lakers or make it a very short list where the Lakers have the assets to compete with the teams on that list, then sure, I think the Lakers can land that type of star.

“But there’s also a lot of uncertainty right now where we don’t know which star is going to be available.”

Buha speaks the truth. It’s still too early to know if any stars will be available. We keep hearing the names Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell, but for now, that’s all just speculation. And would either demand a trade to LA to become third fiddle? Seems like a long shot.

So it may make more sense to add to the supporting cast, just as the Lakers tried to do last summer. They’ll just have to do a better job of it this time around.