Free agency is off to a quiet start for the Los Angeles Lakers.
If things stay quiet much longer, their hopes of finding an NBA elite—or even near-elite—could be out the window.
There is, however, a six-time All-Star still on the board, and it’s someone LeBron James apparently hopes his club can get.
James has indicated a willingness to take less than the max if it helps the team add a significant player. DeMar DeRozan reportedly meets that criteria, per The Athletic’s Jovan Buha. It’s possible DeRozan is the less one left, too, as Buha noted James’ original list included Klay Thompson, James Harden and Jonas Valančiūnas, all of whom have agreed to deals elsewhere.
DeRozan would be a good get, especially if the L.A. native would be gettable for the non-taxpayer midlevel exception. He wouldn’t fill this club’s biggest needs, though, or provide the kind of on-court boost that would transform this play-in team into a title contender.
For years, James has lamented the Lakers’ lack of three-point “lasers.” New coach JJ Redick has prioritized improving the club’s perimeter shooting since taking over.
A deal with DeRozan would take this offense the opposite direction.
He leans on inside-the-arc as much as any modern wing scorer. That’s partly because his midrange game is butter, but it’s also because the 34-year-old never developed an outside shot. The 0.9 threes he averaged this season were actually the second-most of his career, and his seemingly forgettable 33.3 percent connection clip was his third-highest.
So, while the Lakers could theoretically use his support scoring and secondary playmaking, an offense that has already been compromised for spacing would grow even more congested.
History holds that championship contention almost always requires top-10 efficiency marks on both offense and defense.
That means the Lakers have plenty of work to do on both ends this offseason.
This offense ranked just 15th in efficiency this past season, per NBA.com. The defense fared worse and wound up 17th overall.
While there’s a decent chance DeRozan would help perk up that first ranking, there’s just as good of a chance he would drop the latter. L.A. could use stingy point-of-attack defenders, athletic wing stoppers and off-ball defensive playmakers, and DeRozan checks exactly none of those boxes.
Look, the Lakers shouldn’t ignore the possibility of picking up DeRozan.
If he’s somehow available for that midlevel exception, he’d be a steal. He didn’t exactly encounter the most favorable on-court conditions with the Chicago Bulls over the past three seasons, and he still wound up posting per-game averages of 25.5 points and 5.1 assists. Those are helpful numbers for anyone.
Factor in the imperfect fit, though, and it’s hard to imagine that L.A. is only a DeRozan addition away from crashing the championship race.
If the Lakers can bring him onboard, that better be the first of several moves to get this team into contention. They’d still need more shooting, defense and depth to make that leap.
