With Vanderbilt's return from injury, the Lakers finally welcomed a forward group of James, Vanderbilt, Hachimura, Reddish and Prince.
In fact, the Lakers have been on a breakthrough all the way to winning the midseason championship, which is inseparable from the forward group. But the forward group is not without its problems.
First, the contract. Prince is on a one-year contract, and Reddish's seemingly 1+1 contract is basically an expiring contract. It's okay to say about the former, but for the latter, because there is no bird right, it will be difficult to keep it in Ming Xia.
By the way, the Lakers have a net efficiency of 2.9 when Reddish is on the floor so far this season and -0.2 when he is not on the floor. The difference of 3.1 is telling: Reddish is a team that wins and loses.
Second, features. James is older, Vanderbilt lacks offensive ability, Hachimura lacks defensive ability, and Reddish and Prince lack some consistency.
It's fair to say that the Lakers' forward group has different problems. This leads to a point: if there is a deficiency, it is easy to be targeted by opponents. For example, in the 22-23 season of the Western Conference Finals, the Nuggets adopted the strategy of shorting Vanderbilt, resulting in a 4-on-5 situation for the Lakers on the offensive end.
For the Lakers, there are shortcomings that need to be made up. After all, if you continue to be in full physical condition, the Lakers are still very competitive. In other words, there is a high probability that they will meet the Nuggets in the playoffs.
The good news is that as the schedule deepens, some teams such as the Bulls, Trail Blazers, Raptors and other teams have the possibility of roster restructuring and even rebuilding.
In fact, since Leonard's departure, the Raptors' record is Wang Xiaoer's New Year's Eve - year after year. With the poor record, with the contracts of core players such as Siakam and Anunoby about to expire, it can be said that the Raptors have the possibility of roster restructuring and even rebuilding.
At this point, the Lakers can set their sights on Anunoby.
So far this season, Anunoby is averaging 14.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. What to note about the data is:
Explanation point 1: three points. He shot 54% from three-point range, 38.8% from three-point range, and averaged 2.5 shots per game.
Illustrative point two: Defense. The basic data averages 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks per game, and the high-level data defense has a plus/minus of 0.4.
From the above two points, I think Anunoby can be classified as the top 3D ranks. To be precise, there are data and characteristics.
Considering that the Raptors have the possibility of roster restructuring and even rebuilding, I think the Lakers are very likely to trade Russell + draft picks and other chips.
Reason 1: Contract. As shown in the picture, Anunoby has 2 years and 38 million left on his contract. From the Raptors' point of view, Russell could free up salary space as soon as next summer. In addition, draft picks are also good for later rebuilds.
Reason 2: Attractiveness. The Lakers have a lot of exposure, and as mentioned earlier, they also lack a forward like Anunoby. In this way, it is possible to achieve both fame and fortune when it is reused.
In this regard, with the attraction of players and teams, the Lakers are still very likely to get Anunoby.
Of course, with this top-level 3D, the Lakers can completely compete with the Nuggets. Importantly, the Lakers have more defensive resources — almost from top-tier to one-of-a-kind existence.