The Los Angeles Lakers are deeper and more talented than they were at the end of last season. They addressed a few of their weaknesses, adding a quality center Deandre Ayton, finding more perimeter defense by signing Marcus Smart, and upgrading their wing depth with Jake LaRavia. While all three players could help the team, it's hard to imagine them changing the fate of the organization in such a way that they could pose a challenge to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The biggest weakness of this team remains the lack of true two-way players. With the loss of Dorian Finney-Smith, there simply aren't any reliable three-and-D players on this team who can fit next to LeBron James and Luka Doncic. The team can cobble up lineups that can score at a championship level or defend at a very high level, but they likely can't find enough units that can do both.
The Lakers front office's primary objective throughout the season should be finding two-way players who can thrive in an off-ball role next to the team's three stars. A mock trade scenario with the Chicago Bulls helps the Lakers accomplish just that.
Lakers Acquire Ayo Dosunmu from Bulls in Projected Trade
Using the valuable 2031 first-round pick that the Lakers have, they can turn Gabe Vincent into a much younger, more productive, and higher upside version of him in Ayo Dosunmu.
Dosunmu is a solid two-way guard who can shoot, make good decisions with the ball, and create shots for himself and others. He is not the most dynamic on-ball creator, but as an off-ball guard, he is more than capable of keeping the offense humming and scoring enough to keep defenses honest. In each of the last two seasons with the Bulls, he averaged over 12 points with above league-average efficiency. He also averaged a career-high 4.5 assists per game last season while only turning the ball over 1.5 times a game.
More importantly for the Lakers, however, is that he can really defend. Considering how unreliable Marcus Smart is due to his health concerns, Dosunmu can be the consistent point-of-attack defender for the Lakers. He can guard multiple positions and bigger players, freeing up Doncic and Reaves to be hidden on less dangerous offensive players.
The Bulls have a logjam at guard with Josh Giddey and Coby White. They could be open to trading Dosunmu, since he will need a new contract at the end of the year. A juicy Lakers pick and Vincent's expiring contract could be enough to entice them to move on from the promising 25-year-old.
Even if Dosunmu is not made available, a younger player who plays both sides of the ball and has some upside is the type of player the Lakers should target with their draft capital.