Lakers Roundtable: How to spend $61 million in the summer

Keith Rivas’ take:

Ultimately, the ideal scenario for most Lakers fans is pretty obvious, right? The bare minimum that Magic Johnson can afford for Los Angeles is to sign Paul George to a max deal and do everything in his power to add a second superstar to the roster, whether that is LeBron James or not.

Ideally, the Lakers would have an easy time doing that this off-season, considering that having the money was enough of a priority to trade Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson at this season’s deadline — but even that is far from being certain.

All I can know based on what I’ve seen from them thus far is that their future hangs in the balance of the words that come from LaVar Ball. The gravity of everything that he throws the Lakers way is hurting the way the fans are perceiving Lonzo Ball as well as ruining the attractiveness factor that is certain to be front and center in any pitch that Johnson and Rob Pelinka decide to reach out with. I don’t think the Lakers understand how important it is to get either a center or a shooting guard this summer, but that could obviously change.

Going after someone like DeMarcus Cousins might have an injury taboo now, but it was an option that looked plausible earlier in the season, even to the point of being a realistic landing spot for the big man by the deadline. It’s all water under the bridge at this point.

For me, I want to see growth and maturity from this team. If they opt not to trade Lonzo Ball at some point, I want to know that he’s going to live up to the leadership qualities that Magic Johnson seems to think are there. If that aspect of Ball’s game doesn’t change, then the comments from his father are only going to do more harm than good.

At the bottom line, sign a quality center and go from there. With plenty of free agent options that could actually help you get to an NBA Finals group with the young core that you have now. If not, don’t even bother on Paul George, LeBron James or anyone else. After that, if all else fails, have a starting lineup as follows: Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and then start Julius Randle as the center.