With LeBron James departing, the Luka Doncic era is beginning in earnest for the Los Angeles Lakers. James, Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes, five important members of last season’s team, all left in free agency, while the team traded for center Walker Kessler and added guards Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton, big men Sandro Mamukelashvili and Kevon Looney and forward Ziaire Williams in free agency.
While some Lakers fans understand that the franchise is moving on and that building a championship team around Doncic will take more than one year, some fans hate the moves the team has made this summer. It is generally understood that the team has gotten worse than it was last season when it went 53-29, finished fourth in the Western Conference and upset the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Jovan Buha, who covers the Lakers, said on the “Lakers Collective” podcast that some within the organization agree that the team has “taken a step back.”
“More often than not, there was an acknowledgment that we might have taken a step back this season. You could argue that, on paper, we don’t have the same top-end talent. We lost LeBron, we lost good players in Marcus and Rui and Luke, and we understand why some people are down on the offseason, why some people feel that we’ve taken a step back.
But this is about the longer-term vision here. You’re building this core from the ground up around Luka and Austin and having these guys in their mid-20s all together to build out the next 3-5 years or so with this core.”
Of course, it is unknown how much worse the Lakers will be this coming season. They could lose only a few more games and still reach the playoffs, and they could also fall into the play-in tournament and fail to advance past that stage.
But it is also important to remember that success often doesn’t happen in a straight line, and that sometimes, one step backward needs to be taken in order to then move two steps forward. The roster the Lakers have now has a lower ceiling, but it seems to make more sense and looks more cohesive, especially offensively, and it can likely do more things and look more fluid collectively on the court.
Luckily, Doncic is just 27 years of age and has just entered the prime of his career. If this offseason has been any indication, the Lakers and their new front office structure, led by new majority owner Mark Walter, will not bide their time in building a championship roster.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Buha: Some in Lakers front office know team has taken a step backward
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire | USA TODAY Network
