The Lakers are going to sign a center and yesterday they agreed to a two-year deal with 2018 No. 1 overall pick DeAndre. He will move into the starting center slot that was revealed when Los Angeles lost to Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs and the oddsmakers. Allbehind, Oklahoma City, Houston and Denver didn’t impress much. So again, the Lakers are going to sign a center the week before the Lakers signed last week. What that means is that the Lakers got a talented big man Dan who can give them some depth inside. Give them a starter who’s going to be a productive player. But the question is, is he going to be an impact player and that’s my son going to the Finals in 2021, but he’s a guy who’s generally more of a potential player than a reality player in terms of winning. That’s why he was cut from his max contract and that’s why there’s so much apathy about him signing with the Lakers. But Luka Doctorhanson with LeBron James it’s open to debate and still needs some help he’s in the final year of his contract on Sunday he’s in his contract and a minute later got a statement from his agent saying he wants to see what happens and what free agency and the team look like before he wants to know if this is the best place for him long term, so what does the deal mean. This could end up going to the box. So there’s a lot of dominoes here that I had to read, but I think it’s still an evaluation time, although it will be an evaluation time for Rich Ball and LeBron James to see this Lakers or roster where it is now. Is this the kind of team in the world? Yeah. How does that affect how the week goes and what ultimately happens with LeBron, how does it read, that the Lakers would have been No. 10 in the Western Conference to win the Eastern Conference, right? This was the team that finished third in the Western Conference last year and even though they lost, the Triad thought they could go pretty far in the playoffs. So this is still a pretty good Lakers team and they added one of the better centers on the market if DeAndre was a free agent and before the buyout he would probably be the second best center in free agency behind Miles Turner. So what is the next step for the Lakers team in terms of an upgrade because the backcourt depth is extremely thin but the Lakers right now. The big picture is they deserve to sign an extension next month. How does he feel about this? How does LeBron feel that it’s not a priority? It’s a potential headache, but it’s not the Lakers’ priority. It’s still about trying to trust him that they can build a contender here that is necessary to improve with Luka Doncic, but again it comes back to Luka Doncic being the center of the Lakers universe and the priority going forward, but the team has said that’s not LeBron’s priority, but it’s a potential headache as it’s out and it’s out because Rich Paul put it there, that’s Lucas’ priority. This was highlighted by the fact that he was out of his $52.6 million contract on Sunday. Because he didn’t, he took the money, meaning he’s now stuck in a situation where he’s under contract.
It’s very difficult to trade him. There are signs that Luke Partners is on a team that could still be very good, but after the extraordinary firing of coach Tom Espanyol, New York was hoping to hire two-time MVP Mike Brown. He’s a coach with a history of improving teams in their first year. He’s had at least eight wins in his first season in three of his head coaching gigs, including 18 wins in his first year with the Sacramento Kings just two years ago. Now the Knicks won 51 games last season. Allen, of course, is with this Knicks team. Is this the right hire for them?