They bricked it. They absolutely nailed it.
For the first time in recent memory, the NBA free-agent circus missed the Lakers this weekend, yet they were the greatest show on earth.
In the past, the Lakers would have made a big push to sign troubled Kyrie Irving. This time, they settled on tough Gabe Vincent.
In the past, the Lakers would have been deep on the trade talks for overrated Bradley Beal. This time, they picked up steady Taurean Prince.
In the past, the Lakers let impact player Alex Caruso walk and shipped off winners Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma. This time they kept Austin Reaves, kept D’Angelo Russell, kept Rui Hachimura.
For the first time in recent summers, the big-swinging Lakers played small ball, and it was huge.
Instead of wildly hacking from their heels, they carefully bunted, hit to the opposite field, took the extra base, and wound up scoring in bunches.
With general manager Rob Pelinka atoning for past sins, the Lakers displayed something that has not been clearly evident in more than a decade.
A plan.
They actually have a plan! And it could actually work!
The plan was born of last year’s midseason motions when they added Hachimura, Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt, then moved Reaves into the starting lineup, then suddenly became a team.
Counting the playoffs, they were 25-15 after the All-Star break, 16-10 after Reaves became a starter, and, despite being swept by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets, they were outscored only by an average of six points per game in the Western Conference finals.
At the end of the playoffs, they were inarguably the second-best team in the NBA. They were a team that deserved to stay together. They were a team that had earned another chance.
Pelinka gave up too soon on the 2020 champions, tearing them apart before they had a legitimate, injury-free chance to win another title.
(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)
He learned from that mistake. He did not give up on this team. He held them tight. He made them better. He gave them the opportunity to spend a full season doing what they did last spring.
Instead of a desultory last-chance tour for the duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, he created something that could be way more fun.
Opening night, can you imagine …
The cheers for Reaves? He was last season’s shining light. He was its breakout star. He was wrapped in a giant Figueroa hug. Everybody loves Austin.
Remember his playoff treys? He made 44% of them. Remember his playoff dunks? The Crypt is still shaking. In the postseason he averaged 17 points and five assists and endless hope, and can’t wait to see it all again.
Opening night, can you imagine …
The cheers for Hachimura? He showed up midseason as if created by a wizard. He scored, he defended, he was everybody’s favorite player off the bench. And that was before he set the playoff tone with 29 points in the opening win in Memphis. He made 56% of his shots in the postseason, each one seemingly a big one, and it’s going to be a blast watching it again.
Opening night, Lakers fans can actually imagine championship contention.
This is a team set for a full season with Russell, who faltered late in the postseason but was solid early, a matured phenom, a deft organizer, a willing playmaker.
This is a team that will benefit from Russell’s backup being a gritty NBA postseason star in Vincent, his tough Miami Heat pedigree rubbing off on a Lakers bunch that is far more than glitz.
Vincent is an undrafted grinder who became a starter in the Eastern Conference finals and responded with 16 points a game while shooting 51% from beyond the arc. The Heat almost blew the conference finals against the Boston Celtics when Vincent missed a game because of an injury, and were given hope in the Finals when he scored 23 in their only victory against the Nuggets.
Rule of thumb: If a guy is good enough for Eric Spoelstra and Pat Riley, they’re good enough for your team.
Then there’s Prince, a journeyman who played 44 tough minutes in Minnesota’s play-in loss to the Lakers. He’s been a serviceable double-digit scoring guy during his seven years in the league and, with any luck, can become next season’s version of Lonnie Walker IV.
The only red flag in Pelinka’s procurement palooza is a backup center named Jaxson Hayes, a former No. 8 draft pick who played four seasons for the New Orleans Pelicans.
In January 2022 he pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and false imprisonment related to a domestic dispute in Woodland Hills in 2021. The incident included a video that showed him being tased by a police officer while another officer knelt on his neck. The Los Angeles Police Department later acknowledged the knee-on-the-neck maneuver was against department policy.
Stemming from that dispute is a pending lawsuit filed by Sofia Jamora, who is accusing Hayes of several acts of physical violence on that night and others, including hitting her with a suitcase, grabbing her, throwing her on the ground, and dragging her down some stairs. In a separate filing, Hayes has denied the allegations.
The Lakers surely will monitor this situation amid the understandable celebration of their summer success.
Opening night, can you imagine … a season that can’t start soon enough.