Given the need for win-now players, should the Lakers look to get creative with the No. 55 pick in this year’s NBA Draft?
Of the flaws the Lakers roster has had in recent seasons, one of the under-discussed shortcomings was the end of the bench.
A mixture of young, developing prospects and vets on minimum deals left the Lakers with far too few options to mix things up. At the start of this past season, the Lakers had Jalen Hood-Schifino, Maxwell Lewis, Bronny James and Cam Reddish. In theory, injuries to Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood should have opened the door for playing time for some of those players, but all it did was expose just how shallow the Lakers’ depth was.
Through their in-season trades and signings, the team addressed some of those issues by the end of the year, but it was still an evident problem.
In some sense, this is a symptom of the Lakers’ desire to rely on their scouting department. Selections of players like Lewis, Hood-Schifino and Bronny were all bets on the franchise being able to develop them into viable role players down the line.
Unfortunately, while those bets might have made sense in a vacuum, having so many of those types of players on the roster is more of a hindrance than a help.
While the roster is almost certainly set for an overhaul this offseason, the need to maximize the roster spots available should remain a priority. And if you start doing some math, you can see the Lakers might be in another roster crunch.
If Markieff Morris is brought back and Bronny remains on the team, you’re again featuring multiple players who likely can’t get into the rotation already.
Which brings us to the draft, which is now less than a week away. The Lakers hold the No. 55 pick, the same spot they selected Bronny from last season. Instead of taking a long-term gamble on a player with a roster spot, should the team look to use one of their two two-way contracts available when drafting a player?
The only two-way spot taken up by the Lakers right now is Trey Jemison. Christian Koloko’s two-way contract was just for one season and Jordan Goodwin was converted to a normal contract late in the season.
It’s not a strategy the Lakers have used before, but it’s one that many others around the league have. The problem is that it limits who you may be able to select.
There have been any number of stories throughout the years of players asking not to be drafted because they don’t want to sign two-way deals with teams late in the second round. The Lakers benefited from that very scenario to land Austin Reaves.
Realistically, this isn’t a decision the team can make four days before the draft. But it should be one they’re more open to than in previous seasons.
If a player falls in the draft that they think can make an impact from day one, then using a regular roster spot on him is fine. But the Lakers can’t go into another season with so many players at the end of their bench being relatively unplayable.
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