The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly interested in many veteran guards to fill three voids they think they have on their roster.
“One player and role missing from the team virtually all season is backup point guard,” Dave McMenamin wrote. “L.A. has lamented its roster lacking speed, consistent paint penetration and second-unit organization, team sources told ESPN, without Gabe Vincent, who has been out because of a left knee injury. Two players who have been discussed internally to fit that spot are Collin Sexton of the Utah Jazz and Tyus Jones of the [Washington] Wizards, sources told ESPN.
“The Toronto Raptors have two players on their roster the Lakers have interest in as well, sources said: Dennis Schroder and Bruce Brown. Schroder was L.A.’s backup point guard last season before signing with Toronto for the full midlevel exception in the summer.”
Brown — who was recently acquired by the Raptors — was linked to the Lakers in a trade rumor last week. He is averaging 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game on 56.5 percent shooting from the floor in three games played with Toronto thus far.
Sexton is arguably playing the best basketball this season out of all the players that McMenamin mentioned. In 44 games with the Jazz so far during the 2023-24 regular season, he is averaging 17.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from deep.
He has been playing arguably his best basketball of the season lately, considering he has dropped 27 points or more in each of his last four games and finished with 28 points in Utah’s most recent game against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 20. Sexton also contributed three rebounds, five assists and two steals in a game the Jazz lost in overtime by one point to fall to 22-22 on the season.
Schroder is another guard McMenamin mentioned who is playing well this season, though not quite on Sexton’s level. In 44 games played with the Raptors in his first season with the team, he is averaging 13.9 points and 6.3 assists per game.
The 30-year-old played the Lakers back on Jan. 9 and finished with 10 points, two rebounds and six assists while shooting 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
Finally, Jones has been one of the top playmakers in the NBA in his first season with the Wizards. He is averaging 6.0 assists per game, but what makes that number even more impressive is the fact that he is taking such great care of the ball. Jones is averaging just 0.9 turnovers per game on the season.
Lakers fans should be happy if the team is able to acquire any of the four players that McMenamin alluded to, as they are all productive players who could help plug some holes on the roster.
