Are The Lakers Better Than Last Year?
Are New-Look Lakers Better Than Last Year's Lakers?
Video Transcript
Are the Lakers even better than they were last year?
To start free agency, the Lakers committed $446 million to Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, and Quentin Grimes.
But they also lost players like LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, Jaxson Hayes, and potentially Rui Hachimura.
Given this team was built around Luka Doni, it's fair to wonder, is this team even better than they were last year?
The Lakers have put themselves in a tough spot, not having any ability to upgrade their roster further other than the moves that they made in free agency.
They've spent over $400 million on their new additions of Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, and Collin Sexton.
And worst of all from the Lakers' perspective is that these are all long-term deals.
If something goes bad, it's gonna be tough for them to get out of these deals, especially because they have no future first-round picks to trade now through 2033.
The Lakers may have found their center of the future in Walker Kessler, and they have a new big three, but just how good is this big three compared to the other ones in the Western Conference when you look at the Thunder, who are recent champions, and the San Antonio Spurs, who just made the 2026 NBA Finals?
The Lakers seem like an incomplete team, but we'll see if Luka Magic can carry them.
