Last season, it was apparent that the Los Angeles Lakers badly needed another backup center with some real size behind Anthony Davis. Dealing with the physicality of certain bigs put a lot on Davis’ plate and new head coach JJ Redick and the rest of the front office realizes that they need to lighten that burden on their superstar.
Adding a physical big to back up Davis has been something spoken about openly by Redick in the past, but the Lakers have been unable to make that move. Jonas Valanciunas chose to sign with the Washington Wizards and while the Lakers have been linked with a couple of other bigs who would fit the bill, nothing has come to fruition.
But Redick still sees the need to add to the roster and in an interview with Justin Termine and Eddie Johnson on Sirius XM NBA Radio, the Lakers coach made it clear that the Lakers still want to add that big, physical center to the team:
“You certainly have to look at what I think is actually a very good roster, a very balanced roster. We’d love to, we tried, but we’d love to, at some point, get another five man, a big bruising five man. You look at the Western Conference right now, whether it’s Denver, Minnesota, OKC with what they added, certainly Memphis, they’re going to be back in the hunt, they added Zach Edey, certain matchups in the playoffs, you’re going to need a lot of size.”
As Redick noted, the Western Conference is getting better and many of the teams at the top have some serious size. Davis is going to hold his own, but Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood, while having the height, don’t possess the strength to really bang down low against the likes of Nikola Jokic or the Timberwolves’ duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.
The Lakers will continue to explore the market of both free agency and trade to see if they can find the right piece and be able to come to a deal to make it happen.
Lakers ‘monitoring’ availability of Magic center Wendell Carter Jr.
One of the players who would fit exactly what the Lakers are looking for is Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. The big man has the size to bang down low and is also offensively talented and capable of both spelling Davis and playing next to him.
The Lakers are reportedly ‘monitoring’ his availability via trade, but they are one of many teams doing so. If the Magic do ultimately want to move on from Carter, the Lakers could find it difficult to outbid other teams in a potential trade.
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