Lakers made plenty of moves, but questions remain

The Lakers changed plenty this summer. Whether they actually got better is another question.

That’s essentially the takeaway from an early ESPN season preview, with Zach Kram assigning Los Angeles a C-minus grade for its offseason work.

The Lakers moved on from LeBron James and overhauled much of the roster that finished fourth in the Western Conference before being swept by Oklahoma City in the second round. In fact, Austin Reaves is the only player among their top seven in playoff minutes last season who remains.

Reaves, Luka Doncic and new center Walker Kessler give the Lakers a pretty good place to start. Kram’s concern is everything around them, particularly a thin group of forwards and the lack of a dependable backup center.

There’s also not a whole lot left in the draft-pick cupboard to fix it.

ESPN’s Ben Golliver was considerably more optimistic about what the summer meant for Doncic, naming him one of the offseason’s winners. Doncic finally has the type of center he’s wanted in Kessler, while the Lakers made sure Reaves remained alongside him with a four-year max contract.

Meanwhile, the Lakers apparently aren’t finished looking for help.

Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints said on the Clutch Scoops podcast that Los Angeles would be willing to include Dalton Knecht along with Jarred Vanderbilt in an effort to land Jonathan Kuminga in a sign-and-trade.

That one could get complicated. Atlanta is close to the luxury-tax line and reportedly has little interest in absorbing Vanderbilt’s $12.4 million salary, meaning a third team, and perhaps even a fourth, could be required.

So the Lakers have their centerpiece in Doncic and some legitimate talent around him.

Now comes the harder part: figuring out whether all that summer activity actually produced a better basketball team.