After walking back alone through the tunnel to the Staples Center locker room, LeBron James couldn’t get the question out of his head.
He mentioned it to teammate Wesley Matthews late Thursday night, as the Lakers sifted through the final, bittersweet moments of their season together after the Phoenix Suns unceremoniously ushered them out of the playoffs in six games in the first round. The question was on the tip of his tongue after James had showered, dressed and sat down for his last media session before a long summer: What if?
“I said the one thing that bothers me more than anything is we never really got an opportunity to see our full team at full strength,” he said. “Either because of injury or COVID or something going on with our ballclub this year, we could never fully get into a rhythm. And never really kind of see the full potential of what we could be capable of.”
That question of the Lakers’ potential is one that was felt throughout the locker room, even after a decisive series that saw them crash in the final three games without injured All-Star big man Anthony Davis. But unlike most first-round exits, the Lakers still found themselves brimming with confidence that their roster this season was championship-worthy – just not fortunate enough to deploy their full arsenal at the right time.
The combination of a healthy James, Davis and their supporting cast, Coach Frank Vogel said, gave the team “supreme confidence” that they would prevail in the series after taking a 2-1 lead. But Davis’ “freak” injury ended up scuttling their title ambitions. While it’s hard to tell if the Lakers’ belief in their roster as assembled was colored by the emotions of just having been competing the day before – but it was a sentiment echoed from management down through the roster during Friday’s exit interviews.
“We feel like the roster we had this year was a championship-caliber roster,” General Manager Rob Pelinka said. “And obviously there were a lot of things that came into the mix that weren’t within our control that kept us from winning a championship.”
So then comes the question: Are the Lakers prepared to keep the core pieces together from a team that finished seventh in the Western Conference before a first-round exit? At least on Friday, many of those pieces seemed interested in sticking around.
Among the most definitive was starting point guard Dennis Schröder, who is the Lakers’ most high-profile free agent coming off a series in which he acknowledged he could have played better. Schröder has been confoundingly hot and cold on the court (scoring 20-plus points in three games against the Suns, but evaporating in Games 4 and 5) as well as with messaging his offseason intentions.
He’s clearly going to become an unrestricted free agent, which he said is motivated by his desire to be able to make his own choice for the first time in his career, and though he’s already turned down a reported $84 million contract extension offer from the Lakers earlier this season, he said his decision will not be based only on money. On Friday, he said that Pelinka in particular “did everything for me” during the season and that he has strong intentions to return for what he called “unfinished business.”
“We owe Lake Show better,” he said. “We gotta get everybody just healthy and work out, and next season, when everybody comes together, finish it. That’s my opinion on that.”
That also seemed to be hinted at by center Andre Drummond, the in-season acquisition who was benched for the decisive Game 6, but who Vogel said was only sidelined because the Lakers were hunting for more post offense. Drummond was relatively noncommittal about his free agent future after signing with the Lakers for a veteran’s minimum deal in late March, but he said he was “looking forward to building with them.” He insisted that his pairing with Davis had more potential to explore.
“There were glimpses of what we all seen, or bright spots throughout the year where we did play together and great things happened,” he said. “But you can’t expect two guys who play in the paint to get adjusted in six weeks. So it’s something that’s going to take some time, to have a training camp together, preseason, and even the regular season to work on things that let you build that kind of chemistry.”
It’s hard to know if the Lakers’ front office sees value in reuniting all of these key contributors. In addition to the injuries that helped sink their season, the Lakers struggled with chemistry, especially on offense, finishing just No. 24 (109.8 offensive rating) in the regular season. During the Suns series, the Lakers shot just 41.4% from the floor, and 29.9% from 3-point range. Some of the most consistent shooters during the season, including Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma, struggled in the playoffs, especially from the perimeter.
Pelinka didn’t confirm anyone’s future on the team except for James and Davis, who will be collaborators on any changes – or lack thereof. Even Vogel (who Pelinka called a “strong piece” of the future) is entering a contract season, though most of the rhetoric assumed that the title-winning coach will be back in the fold.
“Anthony Davis and LeBron James are championship pillars of this franchise for years to come and of course they’re going to be involved in how we build our roster, how we have built our roster,” he said. “Both great basketball minds, and Frank as well. I think the cohesiveness in making these decisions between your star players, the head coach and the front office is really important and that will continue to be our process going forward.”
Others, including veterans Matthews, Markieff Morris and Jared Dudley said they wanted desperately to run the roster back, even though their own futures are relatively unclear. Talen Horton-Tucker (restricted) and Alex Caruso (unrestricted) were somewhat more guarded, but they acknowledged that the opportunity to play with James and Davis next season is one that’s hard to pass up if free agency bounces well for them.Perhaps the championship-caliber description is more about James and Davis when healthy, than in reference to any of the supporting cast which is still up in the air.
“Any time you’re playing with those two you have a chance to win a championship – a realistic chance to win a championship. And I know a lot of people around the league think they do, and going into the season everybody talks about what their goals are and stuff like that. But it’s a realistic, attainable goal with those two guys on your team. So that’s always in the back of your mind.”
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Run it back? Lakers believe they had the pieces to win another championship - OCRegister
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