Lakers News: League Executive Pinpoints Big Roster Need For Los Angeles

The Lakers are 2-5 in their last seven games.

Your Los Angeles Lakers have been struggling of late. The club is 15-21, and has dropped five of its last seven contests.

LA's biggest weakness will come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching their games: long range shooting.

A league executive informs Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com that the Lakers “desperately need a shooter,” but cautions that the team is waiting for a long-term health prognosis for ailing superstar center Anthony Davis, who remains shelved for now with a right foot stress injury.

“The question is, can another big-time player put them in the mix [for a title], because they’re not going anywhere with the way they are currently constructed,” the executive continued. “So they have to ask, do you want to borrow against the future to see if you can maximize the present? And then you deal with the future when it comes up. But if Davis isn’t going to be able to play, or he’s playing but not himself, then none of this will really matter anyway.”

Per ESPN, the Lakers are the 25th-worst three-point shooting team by conversion rate (33.8%) and are ranked 27th in frequency (30.8 attempts a game).

The club's best three-point shooter who gets regular rotation minutes is... 6'10" center Thomas Bryant, connecting on a whopping 48.1%, albeit while taking a minuscule 1.2 attempts a night. On the wing, only three players are shooting at or above a league average rate, and only two at high volume: rookie Max Christie (41.2% on 1.8 tries), starting swingman Lonnie Walker IV (38.4% on 5.4 attempts per game), and second-year reserve guard Austin Reaves (36.1% on 3.5 tries).

The frequency is the rub -- better accuracy would help too, of course. As one might expect, the Golden State Warriors lead the league in long range attempts (42.5 a game). Eight of the club's rotation players are shooting better than average from long range, and three of those players are taking at least 6.8 tries per bout (Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, and Stephen Curry). Leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jordan Poole is also launching a zillion treys (7.9), though he's not shooting up to his standards just yet, converting just 31.5%. Only one Laker, 38-year-old All-Star forward LeBron James, is taking 6.8 triples, and one could make the argument that, well, perhaps he shouldn't be shooting quite that much, considering he's making just 30.9% of those treys.

There are several solid high-volume three-point snipers that could be had on the trade market. But will a hesitant Lakers front office pull the trigger on a deal to improve the team, if it means sacrificing future assets?