Should the Lakers Go After Giannis This Offseason
The Lakers finished their season disappointingly despite high expectations of at least making it to the Western Conference Finals. After injuring his groin and suffering a Grade Two MCL sprain, Lebron James is on the brink of retirement. It is time for the Lakers to start considering him as a third option, at best. This offseason should be about what Luka Doncic wants and what the team needs. The biggest thing missing is a solid big man.
The Milwaukee Bucks were also eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, and Damian Lillard tore his left Achilles. Many people don’t see a foreseeable future for Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Bucks. Lillard is out and at the end of his career, and the Bucks have what seems like half their team as free agents this summer. The Lakers need a big man, and Doncic needs a superstar to be paired up with. It is a perfect opportunity to pair these two generational talents to go after a championship.
Antetokounmpo has about another five or seven years left in his prime, and his window of getting another championship is closing with each season gone by. Doncic, on the other hand, is used to playing with solid big men. His chemistry with Jaxson Hayes proves that. Everyone except James and Austin Reaves is expendable. Antetokounmpo has been widely considered the best forward in the league for a long time. So why wouldn’t the Lakers take a shot? It isn't James' team anymore, it’s Doncic’s team. The Lakers are not strangers to superstar big men; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, famously was traded from the Bucks to the Lakers, and Shaquille O’Neal made himself a Hall of Famer playing for the Lakers.
A trade like this will continue to make the Lakers must-watch but also bring ratings up. It will also increase their chances of winning a championship in the future. Also, it will attract other role players to want to join the Lakers in pursuit of a championship. The biggest challenge would be satisfying Antetokounmpo's contract desires going forward. Both parties would have to make sacrifices, which I think they would be willing to do to capture a championship.
