After joining as a buyout signing, Alex Len had a wholly underwhelming tenure with the Lakers.
Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we continue with a look at Alex Len.
Well, this will be short.
The combination of trading away Anthony Davis and not being able to complete their trade for Mark Williams left the Lakers in a desperate situation. the buyout market had next to no answers on it with the best available option being Alex Len.
You couldn’t fault the Lakers, then, for going after Len. But it was abundantly clear nearly from the jump that this was not going to be a successful partnership this season.
How did he play?
Len barely got any sort of chance this season in the rotation, and for good reason. He played 22 minutes in his debut with the Lakers, then played 17 total minutes in three appearances over the team’s next 10 games.
That pretty much tells the story of Len’s time in LA. He was lost offensively, lost defensively and not the guy the Lakers needed.
In his defense, he was thrown into a new situation after not playing regular basketball for much of the season. It was always going to be a nearly impossible task for him to be a positive for the Lakers.
What is his contract situation moving forward?
Len was signed on a one-year deal during the season. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Should he be back?
Simply put? No.
Len was a makeshift solution to a short-term problem the Lakers had. They had a hole in the roster midway through the season and Len was the best option available.
In honesty, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Len is not in the NBA next year. He hasn’t been a meaningful factor on an NBA team in four years and he’s faded more and more into the background.
Even if the Lakers completely strike out in free agency, Len won’t be an answer this time around.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.