Due to the fact that the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs early, their offseason has already started early, and this year's offseason is also a very difficult task for Pelinka, not only to find the next head coach for the team, but also to make changes to their roster. As can be seen in this year's playoffs, the Lakers need to find a star player who can share the pressure for Zhan Mei, especially on the offensive end, and now Zhan Mei can no longer maintain a high level of offense in a series.
At the moment, there are also many players who have rumors with the Lakers, such as Mitchell of the Cavaliers, although they have not been eliminated yet, it is basically a matter of time before they fall behind 1-3. The most important thing is that Mitchell is completely alone in this year's playoffs, and he can't win the ball by 50 points against the Magic's G6, and his teammates are too stretched. However, Mitchell's good result is that the Lakers' chip Cavaliers may not be able to see it, unless Mitchell himself applies for a trade and designates his next home like the thick eyebrows of the year.
In addition to Mitchell, the Hawks' Trae Young is also the "object of scandal" of the Lakers, in fact, there have been rumors since last year that the Lakers and Trae Young are interested in working together, and this season the Hawks are worse than the Lakers, and they haven't even made the playoffs. However, the Hawks were more lucky, and they won the top pick with a 3% probability, and according to ESPN media reports, this top pick may also make the Hawks management want to send Trae Young or Murray away even more.
Trae Young's current level is definitely not as good as Mitchell's, but the Hawks' asking price for him will not be low, and he is also a stable 20+10 ball-handling core. Considering the Hawks' asking price for Trae Young, coupled with his style of play and defense, he really doesn't necessarily fit the Lakers. On the other hand, Murray's words seem to be the most suitable point guard for the Lakers, and he has practiced without the ball in the past two years with the Hawks.
According to reports from ESPN and Shams, the Hawks have now negotiated a trade with Murray, and he may really be leaving the team this time. This season, Murray averaged 22.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game in the regular season, shooting 45.9% from the field, and also averaged 2.6 three-pointers per game with a 36.3% shooting rate, of which his average points per game and three-point shooting were career highs.
With Trae Young missing a lot of games due to injury in the regular season, Murray was a regular focus for the Hawks, and his performance did not disappoint the team, and he played a number of highlight-reel games during the season. Against the Timberwolves, Murray scored 41 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals on 17-of-24 shooting, 41 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 17-of-25 shooting against the Grizzlies, and against the Celtics, Murray scored 44 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, and completed a sword seal at a critical moment.
As you can see from Murray's games, his ability to handle the ball on the offensive end is outstanding, and he is not only tall and long-armed, but also explosive, which also helps him have a multi-faceted scoring tool, even on some nights when he has a bad outside hand, he can help the team score by breaking through and creating damages. Playing next to Trae Young, Murray's off-ball ability has also improved significantly, and now catching and shooting three-pointers has become his regular scoring method.
In addition to his own scoring, Murray's organizational skills are far above the league average, and he also averaged 9.2 assists per game in a single season at his peak, but he gave up a lot of the ball after coming to the Hawks, so assists declined. If he joins the Lakers, Murray will definitely get more ball-handling opportunities, which is what the team and James want to see, and they need someone who can carry the ball a lot right now.
On the defensive end, Murray not only won the steal king before, but also was selected for the best defensive team, although the defense has declined due to injuries, but with the advantage of height and arm length and ball quotient, Murray's ability to steal and disrupt the opponent's pass is still very top. And from the data, it can also be seen that Murray's rebounding ability is also outstanding among guards, and he averaged 8.3 rebounds per game in the 2021-2022 season, which is much better than many of the Lakers' forward players this season.
Murray is only 27 years old this year, he is younger than the Lakers' Russell and thick eyebrows, and the four-year 120 million contract he signed with the Hawks last year is quite cost-effective, if not value. On the whole, Murray is very suitable for the Lakers in terms of personal strength and condition, age and contract, and the most important thing is that his asking price is definitely more cost-effective than getting Mitchell and Trae Young, and if Pelinka "brainwashes the Hawks successfully", they may be able to keep Reaves, and they don't even have to give it all away in the first round.
However, the problem for the Lakers now is that on the one hand, they have to wait for the Hawks to restructure the roster, and on the other hand, he has not found a suitable head coach, and if he wants to trade star players, it must also depend on what the new coach's system is. But Murray's style of play is not too picky, if you want to replace Trae Young and Mitchell, then you must only build an offensive system around them, which also requires a certain chemistry between the old players and the new system in the new season.
And if the Hawks don't reorganize the roster in the end and choose to keep the two guns for another year, then the Lakers can only have another empty joy. But to be honest, the Hawks' lineup is basically not competitive, even if they select the current favorite center Sarr, then the latter is unlikely to come up and have obvious help to the team, after all, it takes time to develop rookies, not to mention that this year is still a small year, and Sarr's talent is still much worse than Wembanyama and Holmgren.
So the Lakers had better prepare first, wait for the Hawks or other teams to rebuild, even if they don't have a chance to get Murray, they must fight for another star point guard, because this is their biggest shortcoming at the moment, and if this cannot be strengthened, it is likely to be accompanied next season.