The good news is Luka Doncic’s already taking his game to another level. The bad news is the Lakers are wasting prime Luka and risking falling far behind waiting for answers they already know instead of taking action.
The Lakers knew they were an elite 3&D starting small forward and quality backup center from being a legitimate championship contender before LeBron James got injured and should have resolved those issues offseason. Pelinka’s failure to fix the Lakers’ roster last summer was inexcusable. It left the Lakers vulnerable to major size issues should LeBron get injured and now forces them again to make and integrate a big midseason trade.
In the meantime, JJ Redick is going to have to make some changes to his starting lineup and rotation. To start, He needs to replace Vincent with Smart, as Gabe simply does not have the defensive size or length to start. The challenge is losing LeBron leaves the Lakers without a legitimate plus defender at small forward or power forward. Last night, Butler dominated Reaves at small forward as Kuminga abused Hachimura at power forward.
The plan to give last year’s roster a 20 to 25 game test run before making a trade should have been flushed the instant Pelinka learned LeBron had a sciatica issue and would likely miss at least the first month of the season. Nor did Rob need last night’s game to figure out what was going to happen when the Lakers were forced to go small against the veteran Warriors or what will happen when they play a bigger team like the Timberwolves.
Nor does Rob need 20 more games to know he must make a trade right now not only to bolster the Lakers until LeBron gets back but also to finally wean the team from over-relying on their legendary 41-year old superstar.
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