Lakers News: Insider Identifies Biggest Win Of LA’s Offseason
The Los Angeles Lakers pretty completed all of their major tasks in their 2023 offseason checklist after they fell to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. Even though they were unable to reach the promised land and compete against the Miami Heat for a championship, they easily had the most impressive season turnaround among all the teams in the NBA and their trade deadline haul changed the culture completely.
It was clear that the Lakers needed to hold on to the majority of their starters in order to replicate the same success that they saw in the second half of their recent season and beyond just winning games, the group was tighter than ever. We can not confirm nor deny the Russell Westbrook rumors that he was sucking the life out of the locker room when he was still a part of their roster but looking at the vibe of the squad once D'Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt joined, they were having loads of fun.
And Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura really got rolling once the postseason came around as they played their best brand of basketball and it's safe to say that LA does not win multiple rounds in the playoffs without their services. The Lakers' front office recognized this as well and made sure to pay both of these young stars over $50 million once free agency kicked off.
Reaves landed a four-year contract worth $56 million and insider Zach Lowe believes that it was LA's biggest win of the offseason.
"I think the Reaves contract has a chance to be one of the best contracts in the league from a team perspective, ESPN's Zach Lowe said on the Lowe Post podcast (h/t Matthew Valento of Lakers Nation). "And the Lakers got very, very lucky that nobody made them pay through the nose. And I know San Antonio was going back and forth on it and just for whatever reason didn't do it, and that's a steal."
(Via Bleacher Report)
Seeing that the starting shooting guard is just 25-years-old and will look to help the Lakers build off of last season, we'll have to see how he lives up to this deal.
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