Report: Lakers displaying ‘major impatience’ this offseason as potential LeBron James extension looms

By Peter Dewey
Updated: July 15, 2022

The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to improve their roster ahead of the 2022-23 season after missing the playoffs last season.

With superstar LeBron James entering the final year of his contract, the Lakers are showing “major impatience” this offseason. Los Angeles has been linked to Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving this offseason, and it is trying to find a resolution with guard Russell Westbrook, who is also entering the final season of his contract.

“They’re eager to do something,” one Western Conference executive told Heavy.com. “The team they have is just not good enough right now. Everyone there wants to see a resolution to the Westbrook situation. They want to see about Kyrie. They want to get what they can from Indiana once they start selling off pieces, whether it is Buddy Hield or Myles Turner or both. So there is some major impatience, and they are looking at LeBron maybe getting an extension next month and they want to have everything in place. Well, nothing’s in place yet.”

The Lakers are certainly hoping to prove to James that they can contend for a title to keep him in Los Angeles beyond the 2022-23 season. Right now, L.A.’s roster is questionable at best, as the team missed the play-in tournament last season and hasn’t improved much this offseason.

The Lakers already lost Malik Monk to the Sacramento Kings in free agency, but they have added Lonnie Walker IV, Thomas Bryant, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones. Still, L.A.’s trio of Westbrook, James and Davis will have a lot to prove if the team runs it back in the 2022-23 campaign.

The Lakers could shake things up by dealing for Irving, but they’d likely need to part ways with draft capital and find a taker for Westbrook to do so.

It makes sense that the franchise is losing patience, as it likely wants to have the best pitch possible to James when selling him on the future in Los Angeles.