What's next for the Lakers after you have lost in the 1st round of the playoffs

Los Angeles – The execution of a trade in the intermediate season that shook the league and caused two franchise companies to re -find greater reinvention was simple.

Now comes the difficult part for the Lakers: they make themselves a championship candidate with Luka Dončić – and perhaps also with LeBron James, who is on the clock with midnight.

In these restrictive salary times, this is a discouraging task for a franchise that has always managed to grasp the trophy in the past. Barriers never prevented the Lakers away from

Speaking of movements. The Luka trade changed the dynamics of the Lakers here in LeBron's Twilight, which seems to stretch forever, but will ultimately meet an expiry date. You are now blessed with a 26-year-old generational player and also one who turns 41 in December.

In their first season together, Luka and Lebron raised the bar and may have cleared them a bit unexpectedly by losing number 3 in the west in five games in the first round of playoffs in the first round of the playoffs to the Timberwolves.

Despite the acid end, it was the starter.

Now comes the part in which well-eaten Lakers fans and the second and third helpers ask about the main course.

What are the Lakers doing now?

First, the player in question is not LeBron or Luka. It is Austin Reaves.

Every significant cosmetic change on the squad begins with Reaves, its most valuable commodity and possibly its only real asset, apart from the two, who are obviously nowhere to go anywhere.

You cannot move mountains if you do not continue to continue the following season by a creative, 26-year-old guard with one of the friendliest salaries in the league, at $ 14 million in the next season and an option of $ 15 million (note: he will still decide and search for a strong expansion).

Reaves has achieved a very nice and potentially long NBA career since she did not keep up and made a solid NBA starter. His ability to dismantle the dribble, break the ankles, shoot from a distance and pull fouls with a reliable pump forgery has seen how its existence has risen in the league.

Surprisingly, the Lakers have managed to keep Reaves in recent years, and especially from admission to the Luka deal with Dallas. This was an important dispute at Maverick's fans and league observers, such as MAVS GM Nico Harrison -who only negotiated with the Lakers -could not get any reaves and therefore could solve the backcourt -hole created by Luka's departure.

All loans to Rob Pelinka for this. But now the Lakers GM, which has recently received a contract extension, has to be super creative if he plans to keep Reaves and add large talents.

Here are some options for the Lakers:

---

HandelsReves. It is really your only way to add a quality size, which is the most urgent need for the Lakers. In addition, the Lakers already have two players who repeat what Reaves gives them – Luka and LeBron, both creatively themselves, only up to a higher level.

The Lakers coach JJ Redick has essentially stuck a center without a center during the Timberwolves Playoff series and did not even start one in game 5. There is currently no better option on the roster than Jaxson Hayes.

The middle position would have been solved if the Lakers had agreed to keep Mark Williams, a sporty 7-foot 7-foot trade with a high ceiling, in a trade in the hortrets in the temporary season. But medical red flags prompted Pelinka to get cold feet and to lift the deal.

So the Lakers are again looking for a rebounder and a marginal protection to replace Anthony Davis, which was sacrificed in the Luka deal. A top center costs at least Reaves, and that is, if at all on the market.

As for those who could get the Lakers for less, the Jakob Poeltl from Toronto, Walker Kessler from Jazz, Nikola Vucevic from the Bulls and Brooklyns Nic Claxton could be available. Or maybe the wolves are ready to separate from Rudy Gobert (imagine, he is teammates with his ore nemesis Luka), who had the playoff game of his life on Wednesday (27 points, 24 rebounds).

If the reaves stayed up, the Lakers could look for centers with a limited durability, including two free agents this summer, Brook Lopez and Clint Capela.

Conclusion is this team, who desperately longs for a great man, and based on Redick's playoff rotation, there is currently no one on the squad that you trust.

---

Stay in player development. The Lakers were applauded when Dalton Knecht fell on her last June, and then his rookie season started fire and played in the starting line -up.

Then he then played out of the line -up, and later the rotation, mainly because of defensive falsifications. The Lakers initially belonged to Mark Williams in February.

You could develop it this summer and hope that he will return and improved in the next season, and if so, this would do two solid options. They could keep it and benefit from his outer shots or exchange him at the closing time, where an unexpected player may be launched.

Do the Lakers believe that Rui Hachimura has reached its climax? The same applies to Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent and others? If the Lakers stay with this side line-up next season and have another level for their game, there is the possibility to repeat the overall result-a team that can win 45-50 games, but not much more.

---

Hope for an “angry star”. It happens almost every year – a Star player asks for a trade and tries to manipulate where he is going. The most recent example was De'aaron Fox, who maneuvered his way from Sacramento to San Antonio, his preferred destination.

The Lakers are always a goal, even more with Prime Luka nearby.

Wilt Chamberlain had the Lakers on his wish list in the early 1970s, then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Shaquille O'Neal, then LeBron, then Davis. There is a trend here.

The chance to take Lebron last years and play next to Luka, both of whom pass the ball – could address a star that is ready for a change in the landscape.

---

Do not make an urgency when winning with LeBron. If the Lakers are for Luka and the future and nothing else, they will ignore the urge to accelerate the process to save LeBron in the last one or two years. This means that in the next few years they gradually keep the reaves and then gradually parts and expand whether LeBron is still active or not.

So this is the scenario because the Lakers prepare for an adventurous low season to form a championship core.

It is a good problem to juggle and address. In these restrictive money times it is difficult to hoard two superstars, let alone three. If a team has two, you are immediately a title contender, provided that the rest of the rotation is productive, even if there is no third potential all-star.

When the Lakers were trading for Luka, it was the future because Davis was 32 years old. Well, the future and the process begin now.

* * *

Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can send him an email Here you will find his archive here and follow him X.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or its Warner Bros. Discovery.