After Klay Thompson and Paul George, the dust has settled on the last big fish in the market - DeRozan joined the Kings through a sign-and-trade for three years and $76 million to assist All-Star guard Fox to impact the championship. At this point, the Lakers, the giants of the league, have once again become a "circus" and a "willing team", and these two labels will go hand in hand with the Lakers.
Perhaps, as fans ridiculed, the Lakers have heavyweight reinforcements this summer, but isn't General Bronny? In the summer league debut, the Lakers lost to the Kings 94-108, and Bronny scored 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal on 2-of-9 from the field, including 0 of 3 three-pointers and 0 of 2 free throws.
Before the NBA free agency opened, the Lakers' two biggest stars, James and Davis, also signaled to management to bring in a third star. But the Lakers have been unmoved many times, and now they are watching DeRozan join the opposing team on a three-year, $76 million contract, and I don't know what the Lakers fans feel like in their hearts. After all, compared to the 40 million annual salary offered by the Bulls, this contract with an annual salary of 25 million is really a cabbage price for a scorer of DeRozan's level.
Also as the traditional giants of the league, the Celtics in the East are very generous to renew the contracts of the two leading stars with the maximum salary, and it is the largest contract in NBA history, and the role player White also got a contract of hundreds of millions, which is the gap between the Lakers and the Green Army.
Center Valanciunas joined the Wizards for 3 years and 30 million, Klay signed with the Mavericks for 3 years and $50 million, and Harden stayed with the Clippers for 2 years and $70 million.
The Lakers management really could only watch dryly, becoming a spectator in the market this summer, and the excitement belongs to other teams, but it has nothing to do with them.
In the 23-24 season, Varland played 82 games in the regular season, averaging 12.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.8 blocks per game. It can be said that if the Lakers can sign him, then the strength of the interior will be greatly improved, and Davis can also return to his favorite No. 4 position and fully use his talent on both offensive and defensive ends. Obviously, a tall interior player like Varland, who has the ability to play and three-point shooting, is a more suitable style of play for the Lakers.
It's a pity that missing is missing, and there is no chance to redeem it.
It's okay to miss it, but it's unacceptable to miss it repeatedly.
The lack of a third star who can score consistently has been a big pain point for this Lakers team. With DeRozan's style of play, it can also make the Lakers' offensive system more complete, after all, James and Davis are not mid-range masters.
In the '23-'24 season, DeRozan played 79 regular season games for the Bulls, averaging 24 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game, shooting 48% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. Although his three-point shooting ability is average, he is a mid-range master, and when the team needs to score, he can break the game through mid-range shots, which Russell and Reeves Jr. do not have.
The results of the grain did not come to fruition, so that the American media couldn't help but publish an article ridiculing the Lakers in the offseason: 0-0-0-0-0!
Missed DeRozan's level scorer again, and now there are not many people left on the market for the Lakers to recruit.