LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers now have Anthony Davis in tow, now who else could they possibly add in 2019 NBA free agency?
It was never in question that the Los Angeles Lakers would aggressively pursue major moves in the 2019 offseason. After adding LeBron James as a free agent last year, the hope of every Lakers fan was that the team would be able to make the big-time moves to fill out the roster around him in NBA free agency and get L.A. competing for a title again. The question, however, was how successful they’d be in their pursuits.
Suffice it to say that they’re off to a great start.
On June 15, the Lakers finally pulled off the trade they’d been hoping for since the 2019 trade deadline, landing Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans. General manager Rob Pelinka gave up the farm to get the All-Star big man, sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks to New Orleans in exchange for Davis.
Now that Davis is headed to Los Angeles, though, the big question is what’s next for the Lakers, particularly as it pertains to 2019 NBA free agency. Even with the injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson complicating their potential to hit the market — the latter of specific concern to Los Angeles — this is still a rich crop of players that can and will hit the open market this offseason.
With Ball, Ingram and Hart out, along with a large portion of their 2018-19 roster as well, the Lakers find themselves in need of plenty of help, particularly in the backcourt. And while they would love to land another big-name player to give Los Angeles a new trio of stars wearing purple and gold, they also need to fill out the rest of their roster with approximately $30 million in cap space.
With that in mind, we’ll be looking at five players — some stars and some not — that the Lakers could potentially target in 2019 NBA free agency. We start with the most obvious and publicized target of the quintet.