{"id":151912,"date":"2025-07-24T11:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=151912"},"modified":"2025-07-24T11:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:15:07","slug":"the-lakers-are-a-volume-defender-away-from-catching-the-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/24\/the-lakers-are-a-volume-defender-away-from-catching-the-thunder\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lakers Are This Player Away From Catching The Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2013 The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> always hover near greatness. Seventeen banners remind everyone. The last one dropped in 2020. With LeBron James<\/a> and Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a>, the purple and gold can dream big again. But to match the juggernaut in Oklahoma City, they need more.<\/p>\n

The Lakers Are A Volume Defender Away From Catching The Thunder<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"The
Dec 15, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) dribbles the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart (36) at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ramona Shelburne\u2019s ESPN piece exposed friction.<\/a> LeBron and the front office were close to splitting<\/a>. Cooler heads stepped back. Moving LeBron\u2019s $52.6 million deal was always going to be a logistical nightmare<\/a>. So they patched things up<\/a> and doubled down.<\/p>\n

Rob Pelinka stayed aggressive while keeping 2026 cap space open. He used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign DeAndre Ayton<\/a> and Jake LaRavia<\/a> after letting Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> go. He added Marcus Smart<\/a> when the Wizards<\/a> cut ties<\/a>. Good moves, no doubt. But one need is clear: a volume defender.<\/p>\n

Understanding The Volume Defender<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What does this even mean? The Lakers need a perimeter defender who can carry the grind. Someone who soaks up the toughest matchups. Night after night. Game after game.<\/p>\n

The Thunder<\/a> have Luguentz Dort<\/a> and Cason Wallace.<\/a> The Clippers<\/a> roll with Kris Dunn<\/a>. The Rockets<\/a> trust Amen Thompson<\/a>. These players contribute to winning despite getting little fanfare.<\/p>\n

The Lakers lack that edge right now. They need the volume defender type to take the lumps, not Smart.<\/p>\n

Smart Is A Weapon, Not The Shield<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Smart should not be the Lakers volume defender every night. He should be a specialist. Think Alex Caruso<\/a> on the Thunder. The Thunder used Caruso smartly, pun intended. He averaged under 20 minutes last season. His defensive chaos was saved for big moments, like the Nuggets<\/a> series.<\/p>\n

Smart\u2019s body can\u2019t handle 35 minutes of chaos anymore. Since leaving Boston, he\u2019s suited up for just 54 games. One big injury didn\u2019t hit him\u2014nagging ones piled up. His reckless hustle style always takes a toll. So protect him.<\/p>\n

Pelinka Has Trade Chips<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Lakers front office holds cards. Gabe Vincent<\/a> and Maxi Kleber<\/a> are expirings. Dalton Knecht<\/a> is tradeable despite recent struggles. Use them.<\/p>\n

Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> fits the mold. So does Keon Ellis<\/a>. They\u2019re cheap, young, and defend all night. Neither will mess up 2026 cap plans.<\/p>\n

One Smart Move Away<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pelinka\u2019s work deserves some credit. He filled holes without killing draft picks. But the final puzzle piece must come soon.<\/p>\n

Without the volume defender, this Lakers will run out of gas. With him, they can pace Smart. They can squeeze every ounce of defense when it matters most.<\/p>\n

Banner number 18 waits for no one. Time to plug the last hole. Catching the Thunder depends on it.<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2013 The Los Angeles Lakers always hover near greatness. Seventeen banners remind everyone. The last one dropped in 2020. With LeBron James and Luka Don\u010di\u0107, the purple and gold can dream big again. But to match the juggernaut in Oklahoma City, they need more. The Lakers Are A Volume Defender Away From Catching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":151920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[62,1608,26,3,4721],"tags":[50219,2951,428,4557],"class_list":["post-151912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-defense","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151912","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\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151922,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151912\/revisions\/151922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}