The Los Angeles Lakers have done very little to improve their roster this offseason, and one has to imagine that franchise superstar LeBron James is as aware of that reality as anyone.
However, when James was asked what his expectations will be for the upcoming season if L.A.’s roster remains the way it currently is, he didn’t sound any alarm bells with his response.
LeBron James on the Lakers not making any off-season trades yet and his expectations on if the team stays as pic.twitter.com/8JGdQOnvos
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) July 6, 2024
“My expectations (are) for us to go to work every day, try to get better every day and push each other every day,” James said. “Me as a captain, A.D. (Anthony Davis) as a captain, we gotta hold everybody accountable from a player standpoint. We’re comin’ in with a new system, so we have to learn the system and see what Coach [J.J.] Redick and the rest of the coachin’ staff want us to do and then go from there.”
Outside of picking up some rookie talent, the Lakers haven’t done anything this offseason to add to their roster from a season ago. They have re-signed some key players, but they’ve also lost some supporting help, with Taurean Prince leaving and others (like Spencer Dinwiddie) possibly being next to sign elsewhere in free agency.
The good news is that there is still time for the Lakers to make some noise this offseason, even if their options are limited. They’ve recently been linked to players like Kyle Kuzma and Jerami Grant, among others.
Ultimately, it may be a need — not a want — for L.A. to add some legitimate help if the team wants to be involved in the NBA title race this coming season.
The Lakers simply didn’t have what they needed to put together a deep run in the playoffs last season, falling to the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round. L.A. likely knows better than to think that it can try again with a very similar roster and somehow get a different result in the 2024-25 season.
It’s possible that having a new coaching staff will help the Lakers take a step forward in the new campaign, but Redick — a first-year head coach — will have a lot of learning to do on the fly, and having a more complete roster would certainly make his job a lot easier.
James is trying to win another championship before his NBA career comes to an end, and it’s anyone’s guess how soon that could be for the future Hall of Famer.
