2020 NBA Draft
The Lakers held the rights to the 28th pick in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft this offseason but made the first big move of the offseason when they went out and acquired Dennis Schroder from the Oklahoma City Thunder. All it cost them was the 28th pick in the draft and veteran guard Danny Green, who struggled late in the year with the Lakers and never really fit in well with this team.
Not only does Dennis Schroder bring the ability to score at a high-level, but will alleviate a lot of stress put on LeBron James as Schroder should be the team’s starting point guard this upcoming season. He has mainly come off the bench the last two seasons with the Thunder, averaging 17.0 points, 4.1 assists, and shooting 36.1% from three-point range. Inserting this kind of scoring into the starting lineup next to AD and LeBron makes the Lakers even harder to guard than they were a season ago.
Trading for Dennis Schroder and only giving up one first-round pick was an absolute steal for the LA Lakers and even though he is in the final year of his contract, he gives the Lakers a legit chance to win another championship. He is the third-best player on this team and will make one of the best offenses in the league from a season ago even better this season.
It is down the road, but the Lakers will have the option to either re-sign Schroder or let him go and use the $18M he frees up in cap space to go out and bring in someone else to pair with LeBron James and Anthony Davis… it is a win-win situation for the Lakers, only costing them one draft pick.
As a result of the Dennis Schroder trade, the Lakers did not have any picks in this year’s draft and were quite content with not having one. At the conclusion of the draft, the Lakers did reach agreements with undrafted free agents Zavier Simpson, Tres Tinkle and Kevon Harris. All three players will be a part of the Lakers’ training camp and with the Lakers having 14-players on their roster, one of these undrafted rookies could work their way into the last roster spot on the team.
Whether or not any of these rookies make the 15-man roster for the Lakers for the upcoming season, it really will not matter much as they would only see the floor in blowout victories or losses near the end of the game. Most of their time will be spent in the G League as they look to prove to teams around the league that they deserve a roster spot.
