In order to cover any gaps from the previous season, every NBA team works to fill them during the offseason. All teams, that is, with the exception of the Golden State Warriors, who have essentially been gazing at Jonathan Kuminga all summer. However, most teams strive for improvement, and the Los Angeles Lakers are no exception. Since moving Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic in February, the team has had a significant void at center.
Although the Luka-AD trade is a daily necessity, the Lakers were unable to overcome the personnel imbalance it caused for at least the previous season.
At the deadline, they attempted to acquire Mark Williams, but the deal fell through when he failed his physical, and the rest is history as the Timberwolves comfortably defeated them in the first round of the playoffs.
In July, Los Angeles signed Deandre Ayton to a two-year, $16.2 million contract, which significantly improved their center position. How far LeBron James and Luka can go in their first full year together may depend on how significant the boost is. Olden Polynice joined the former Lakers coach and player on the most recent episode of Byron Scott’s Fast Break, and the two of them discussed the Ayton fit.
Although Ayton’s reputation as a locker room cancer isn’t exactly appropriate for a former No. 1 overall choice, Polynice doesn’t believe it’s all his fault after he was moved by the Suns and then acquired by the Blazers.
He stated: “They gave up on him,”. “If you draft a guy No. 1, and for whatever reasons, you didn’t cultivate him to make him not be what he ended up being, that’s on management, that’s on coaching, that’s on all those people.”
Polynice responded as follows when Scott reminded him that Ayton didn’t travel straight from Phoenix to Los Angeles: “I know, and they did the same thing in Portland.”
