Lakers Rumors: Ranking the best targets during the 2019 offseason

After months of countless Lakers rumors around the 2018 offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers focus has now shifted to the 2019 free agent class.

Well, this is not what anyone was expecting. For almost a year now, all of the Lakers rumors pointed to the Los Angeles Lakers making a big move during the 2018 offseason. The summer ’18 seemed to be a very promising one for Los Angeles; many fans were already banking on some big moves.

It all started with LA native Paul George, who had inevitably been tied to his hometown team with his tenure in Indiana coming to an end. Even after he was traded to Oklahoma City, the rumors persisted following an interview with SI’s Lee Jenkins.

That transitioned then to LeBron James, who many people would make the move to Los Angeles not only for his basketball career, but for his post-playing career. Of course, wherever LeBron goes, superstars follow. Thus, countless other stars were thrown into the fray.

The Lakers seemingly wanted to do something in the summer of ’18 as well. LA traded the 2015 second overall selection, D’Angelo Russell, to the Brooklyn Nets to free up Timofey Mozgov’s salary. That is something that could have been much easier to do before the 2019 offseason, when Mozgov only has one year remaining under contract.

ESPN first published the story, stating that sources told ESPN that the front office is “recalibrating their focus on a 2019 class.”

You’ve probably already heard the massive names that are going to be in that free agent class. Therefore, we put together a ranking of the top five players for the Lakers to pursue in the summer of

2018

2019.