What Lakers are planning to do in free agency to achieve 'singular goal' of 18th title
Teams across the NBA have aggressively onboarded talent via trades ahead of the start of free agency (6 p.m. ET Friday). How do Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers plan to respond?
By going the continuity route.
The Lakers were swept by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, but the Lakers' general manager believes the club isn’t far away from being the last team standing.
"We want to try our hardest to keep this core of guys together and also improve around the edges and on the margins to not only get back to where we were last year but hopefully take the next step and get into the NBA Finals," Pelinka said to reporters this week.
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The Lakers won nine of their last 11 games to finish out the regular season, then won their play-in game and advanced through two rounds of the playoffs before being swept by the Nuggets. Los Angeles lost all four games to Denver by a combined 24 points.
The competitive finish after a rough start to the year has Pelinka confident the Lakers aren’t far away from raising another banner, despite a loaded Western Conference that saw the Phoenix Suns add Bradley Beal and the Golden State Warriors bring in Chris Paul. (There's also still the defending champion Nuggets to contend with.)
"Teams are going to be aggressive," Pelinka said. "There's a lot of parity in the league right now, and everyone smells an opportunity to chase the championship, but we're going to try our best to stay in that pack or at the head of that pack."
Lakers extended qualifying offers to Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves
The Lakers took a major step in keeping their core together when they extended qualifying offers for Hachimura and Reaves. The Lakers announced the offers Tuesday. The move means the Lakers have the right to match any outside offer the (now) restricted free agents may receive. The two proved to be vital pieces for the Lakers alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
According to ESPN, the Lakers are also planning to exercise Jarred Vanderbilt’s team option.
Important free-agent decisions
Key contributors D'Angelo Russell, Dennis Schroder and Lonnie Walker are entering free agency and the Lakers will soon have to make decisions on them (and others). But Pelinka made it clear, the Lakers don’t intend to make massive changes in what’s already turning into an arms race in the Western Conference.
"I think we believe in the proof of concept of this group, and we saw defensively what we were able to do to finish the season out, and I think defense and rebounding wins championships," Pelinka said. "We want to lean into that. I think if there's ways we can improve the roster, of course we're going to do that. I think probably less focus of, 'Hey, what is Team X or Team Y doing?' And more focus on, 'How can we optimize us?'
"We say it all the time but, we have one singular goal. It’s to add the 18th banner. That’s our focus, so heading into the next couple days we’re gonna do all we can to maximize that opportunity."
Follow Paste BN Sports' Tyler Dragon on Twitter @TheTylerDragon.