Despite an offseason failure, it's still not too late for the Lakers

Looking back to the summer of 2022, it was deemed a foregoneconclusion that the Los Angeles Lakers would trade RussellWestbrook before the 2022-23 NBA season began. The team had justmissed the playoffs for the second time since LeBron James came toL.A., and the trio of Westbrook, James and Anthony Davis justwasn't clicking on the floor.

So rumors flew as to where Westbrook would be shipped off to andthe price the Lakers would have to pay to jettison his bulky $47million contract. Just before the season started, it looked like adeal was going to happen. According to reports, the Indiana Pacerswere going to send Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to the Lakers forWestbrook and their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks. The Lakerseven pushed back a media session withvice president of basketball operations and general manager RobPelinka and new head coach Darvin Ham (perhaps because a deal wasclose?).

Then, it didn’t happen.

Now, more than halfway into the season, the Lakers arestruggling again with a 20-25 record and sitting at the No. 13position in the Western Conference. Davis once again suffered aninjury that has cost him a big chunk of the season, and the team isstill dreadful at shooting from three-point range.

Which begs the question: Did the Lakers wait too long to make amove or is there still hope to improve this roster?

Hindsight is always 20/20. Still, it would have been a smartgamble to take on Turner and Hield, even at that high cost. Turnerhas blossomed, averaging career-highs in points (17.1) and rebounds(7.8) while still being a force defensively around the rim, rankingthird in the league in blocks (2.4). Hield has always been aknockdown, volume shooter, connecting on 40.0% of his shots fromthree-point range in his career and he has upped that to 42.4% thisseason.

It's understandable that the Lakers are cautious about makingany major moves following the Westbrook trade that gutted theirroster of shooting and defense — both obvious needs. It hasn’ttotally backfired with Russ playing well in his role offthe bench this season, but his bad decision-making and hero-ballways in crunch time have cost the team at least a few wins.

Laker fans groan as Russel Westbrookisolates for 10 seconds and turns it over pic.twitter.com/Q5ucNN84Mp

As we’re seeing it play out now, Westbrook's contract shouldhave been used to acquire multiple role players before the season.Even if that meant trading both of those precious futurefirst-round picks, they should've gone for it if the right deal wason the table. Indiana wasn’t the only possible landing spot forWestbrook either, with Charlotte and San Antonio also showing someinterest in the former MVP.

Imagine a Lakers squad that had proven role players to surroundJames and Davis. Well, we can. That’s the 2020 championship teamthat included the likes of Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope andDanny Green. The formula is there, but the front office decided toblow it up.

Now the team has — again — banked on a roster filled withone-year players on prove-it, minimum-level deals. Sure, DennisSchroder and Thomas Bryant have had moments, but both have comecrashing down to earth over the past week. You can’t depend onthose players to put up reliable stats all season long.

Imagine this team with real depth and even a little bit moreshooting. Some of those close losses — and there have been plentyof them — could have been wins. They can handle it better whenDavis has to miss games due to injury. (Unfortunately, that’sbecome a regular thing for him, especially over the past threeseasons.) Maybe you could rest LeBron a little more and not putsuch a 36-minutes-per-game type of burden on his shoulders?