{"id":113313,"date":"2024-12-20T14:40:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T19:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113313"},"modified":"2024-12-20T14:42:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T19:42:25","slug":"magic-johnson-lakers-biggest-need-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/20\/magic-johnson-lakers-biggest-need-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Champion Names Team\u2019s Biggest Need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To put it bluntly, the Los Angeles Lakers are middling team. They\u2019re slightly above-average, so they\u2019re at least on the right side of the spectrum. However, with 55 games remaining in the regular season, they\u2019ve shown themselves <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/19\/lakers-gm-rob-pelinka-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">to have glaring weaknesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Still, there\u2019s never been a team without flaws. Even the Golden State Warriors, who won an NBA single-season record 73 games in 2015-16 before losing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>\u00a0and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. So, while many of the criticisms of the Lakers have merit, concerns could be a bit overblown.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, there are those who believe L.A. needs to make a major change rather than trying to patch up each of their holes individually. In the offseason, the thought was that replacing former head coach Darvin Ham was the right answer. Yet, JJ Redick \u2014the Lakers\u2019 new play-caller \u2014has a worse record through 27 games as Ham did in 2023-24.<\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Champion Magic Johnson Names Team\u2019s Biggest Need<\/h2>\n<p>In a recent appearance with SiriusXM NBA Radio\u2019s Justin Termine and Eddie A. Johnson, Hall of Fame point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsma02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Magic Johnson<\/a> discussed what he believes the Lakers are missing this season.<\/p>\n<p>The five-time NBA champion tells Termine and Johnson that L.A. needs \u201cone more player.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cWe [Lakers] need one more player if you\u2019re going to contend in the West\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lakers legend Magic Johnson shares with <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TermineRadio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TermineRadio<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jumpshot8?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@JumpShot8<\/a> what he believes LA needs to compete for a title. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9jNZ5SSOX5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9jNZ5SSOX5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SiriusXMNBA\/status\/1869819995167043683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 A guy who can get (the Lakers) 20 points on a consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Entering the 2024-25 season, fourth-year guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a> was expected to become the team\u2019s third option. 2015 No. 2 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/russeda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/a> was hoping to have a strong season. However, both have played below a star standard.<\/p>\n<p>Reaves is averaging 17.3 points per game but shooting a career-low 43.7 percent from the field. He\u2019s notched 20 or more points in just six of the 22 games he\u2019s played and has yet to have a 30-plus point outing. Russell, who lost his starting spot early in the season, is averaging a career-low 12.5 points per game. His field goal percentage (.413) and three-point percentage (.333) are among the worst of his career.<\/p>\n<p>This leads to the reality that the Lakers will have to make a blockbuster trade. To that point, Atlanta Hawks point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> and Chicago Bulls guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> are the stars who are typically linked to Los Angeles. Washington Wizards forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kuzmaky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Kuzma<\/a>, who was on the Lakers\u2019 last title team, and Utah Jazz guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sextoco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Collin Sexton<\/a>\u00a0are two other scorers who the team <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/19\/lakers-predicted-to-land-102-2m-scorer-kyle-kuzma\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">reportedly has interest in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Will They Trade For?<\/h3>\n<p>Russell, who is just 28, isn\u2019t untouchable in trade talks by any means. However, his poor play makes him an unattractive option for multiple teams. In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/29\/nnba-rumors-quin-snyder-asking-hawks-keep-dejounte-murray\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">it may have been the hangup<\/a> in L.A.\u2019s attempts to trade for Dejounte Murray last season.<\/p>\n<p>Reaves, who is 26, is all but untouchable in trade talks. This is presumably because the Lakers brass views him as a star-caliber player. Yet, the Arkansas native will turn 30 years old in 29 months, which puts his potential in question.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, if L.A. wanted to make a trade for a player of Young\u2019s caliber, they might not get away with trying to hold onto Reaves. LaVine, Kuzma, and Sexton aren\u2019t at Young\u2019s level, but that makes them much more affordable options. A win-win scenario for the Lakers would be for them to acquire a player from that trio while keeping Reaves (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rui Hachimura<\/a>) while moving Russell.<\/p>\n<p>That makes Kuzma and Sexton the most feasible of their potential trade acquisitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To put it bluntly, the Los Angeles Lakers are middling team. They\u2019re slightly above-average, so they\u2019re at least on the right side of the spectrum. However, with 55 games remaining in the regular season, they\u2019ve shown themselves to have glaring weaknesses. Still, there\u2019s never been a team without flaws. Even the Golden State Warriors, who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":113407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4,1608,8,62,3,4721,24,18],"tags":[4556,307,1128,755,596,4774,1349,457],"class_list":["post-113313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","category-jazz","category-wizards","tag-austin-reaves","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-kyle-kuzma","tag-magic-johnson","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-rumors","tag-trae-young","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113409,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113313\/revisions\/113409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}