How the Lakers can set the right price for Julius Randle
By Keith Rivas
At the end of the day, it’s what’s best for Lonzo that matters
Re-signing Julius Randle, at the end of the day, has to be about Lonzo Ball. Some might not like him, but he’s he guy the Lakers are choosing to stick with through thick and thin — whatever that might look like moving forward is another story.
The rookie point guard hasn’t put up terrible numbers in his first season, but he’s showing strides as well in the second half of the regular season and proving why he was worth drafting second overall last summer.
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For the Lakers to try and divert away from building around a pass-first point guard wouldn’t really make any sense. They should want the scoring to come from around Ball while he does what he can, but it’s not necessary for him to score a whole bunch of points just for them to stay in the game.
You see that in this season’s version of the New Orleans Pelicans; and while Anthony Davis is capable of scoring ridiculous point totals night in and night out, it isn’t something that’s translated to any success in the playoffs so it’d be foolish for them to have that approach.
Keeping Randle in the starting lineup means giving Lonzo as many threats as possible. Even if they just signed Paul George and no other stars came to the team, put George, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Julius Randle out there and you have a squad that could do some serious damage.
Isaiah Thomas, in this case, would be the odd one out, but the team should consider a second unit role for him and make that clear if they offer him any money this summer if they want to retain him. Depending on who comes calling there, Thomas might not have a choice.
What the aforementioned lineup does is it gives the Lakers the best of both worlds. You still get the star power and verbal affirmation that “you did it!” with signging George while also utilizing all of the pieces of a young core that you have on the roster.