Team: Los Angeles Lakers.
2021-22 season record: 33 wins and 49 losses.
Main offers: Lonnie Walker IV, Troy Brown, Damian Jones, Juan Toscano Anderson, Thomas Bryant, Beverly, Schroeder, head coach Darwin ham;
Major losses: Taren Horton-Tucker, Stanley Johnson, Monk, head coach Vogel’s.
Last season, the Lakers’ performance was disappointing. They failed to break into the playoffs or even won tickets for the play-offs, ranking 11th in the West. Davis fell again due to injury. Wei Shao was incompatible with the team. James wasted another season. He scored 30.3 points and 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists last season. The coach was kicked out Vogel’s, and he was replaced by Darwin Hamm, an old acquaintance of the former stag champion assistant and the Lakers.
During the off-season this year, Wei Shao implemented the player option worth more than 47 million dollars and stayed in the team. Weishao execution option, this is a predictable choice, after all, it is more than 4700 million dollars! The Lakers also negotiated a deal with the counting team this summer and discussed several deal proposals, but so far no agreement has been reached with the potential next home. According to the latest news, the Lakers are still talking about weishao’s deal.
The Lakers lack trading assets, so they are even more reluctant to take two first-round signatures. They will only give one first-round signature at most, and the team will also focus on the off-season next year, there will be only James, Anthony Davis, Damian Jones and Max Christie on the contract.
As a member of the Lakers, Wei Shao may feel unhappy secretly, considering what he has experienced-however, he cannot choose to test the free market, and the executive player option is the only choice. If Wei Shao chooses to continue playing after the end of the 2022-23 season, he will create the biggest salary reduction record in NBA history.
The Lakers have limited salary space and used the middle class special case to sign Lonnie Walker. Troy Brown, Thomas Bryant, Juan Toscano Anderson and Schroeder are all basic salary contracts. For the Lakers, they are not necessarily the main choice of the team this season, nor will they completely change the fate of the team. Under better circumstances, the Lakers can keep Monk, who performed well last season. However, Monk chose to join the King and signed a two-year contract of 19 million dollars. He got more money and more important roles.
From this perspective, perhaps the most important recruitment is coach Ham, who is 49 years old and serves as coach for the first time in NBA team. Hamm worked with Budenholzer for many years, first in the eagle and then in the stag to win the championship.
According to a joint report by The Athletic Lakers reporter Jovan Buha and The famous Sam Amick, several sources revealed that The Lakers fully supported coach ham, and he is ready and willing to make any difficult rotation decision for the success of the team. If Ruowei wants to retain the starting position, his performance must be better than that of new aid Beverly and Schroeder. At present, only James and Davis can confirm the starting of the Lakers.
From the perspective of Wei Shao’s retention to enter the new season, it is meaningful for him to play more, but it means to grab the right from James, who is 38 years old, but his field vision and passing are still very sharp. How Hamm and weishao deal with this delicate situation will be very interesting.
When it comes to the delicate situation, there is also a deal to get Beverly, letting Panther and his old enemy live in a room, which looks very magical. Of course, on the day of Beverly press conference, weishao handed him towels, which was a signal of reconciliation?
In addition, the Lakers announced today that they will sign Schroeder, the former teammate of the old General and weishao, and his arrival may continue to compress weishao’s playing time. So will this contract be the precursor of weishao’s deal? It’s hard to say now.
The most important thing is that the Lakers’ winning rate in the new season will depend more on Davis’s health than on His Majesty. Davis has been recovering all summer. It is crucial for the Lakers that he can recover several successes in the new season and whether he can maintain a high attendance rate.
When it comes to the operation of the Lakers in this off-season, of course, James’s advance renewal is indispensable-the total salary in two years exceeds 97 million dollars, and the second year (2024-25 season) is the player option. Team boss Jenny Buss said he hoped James would retire from the Lakers. James has said more than once that he hopes to play with his son brownie in NBA, and whether this can be realized is a problem in the future.
For the Lakers, how to regroup and make a comeback after a failed season is the most important thing.