"I feel like they can't stand still" - Kendrick Perkins breaks down which moves the Lakers need to make this offseason

kendrick-perkins

Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins believes that there’s no way for the Los Angeles Lakers to compete for a championship next season if they decide to stay put with their roster. In his appearance on Mark Jackson’s podcast, Perkins detailed the two types of players the purple and gold badly need when they retool their roster this summer.

“The Lakers got to make a move. I feel like they can’t stand still. You got to have shooting. You got to have floor spacers when you’re dealing with Bron and AD. Also, they have to go out there and get a legit 5 man because they still might run into [Nikola] Jokic. AD has made it very, very clear that he played the center position, but he doesn't want to play the center position,” Perkins said.

Shooters and a big man

It seems the Lakers themselves also believe that they need to acquire quality shooters and a big man this summer, as they’ve reportedly been interested in those types of players. In fact, in this year’s draft, Los Angeles selected one of the best shooters in the class, Dalton Knecht. Just this week, it was also reported that the Lakers are targeting Jonas Valanciunas and Brook Lopez.

Now, it’s hard to tell whether the Lakers can address their roster issues given their cap space concerns and the rules and regulations surrounding the newly implemented CBA—which Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said is the reason why it’s harder to transact trades.

But whatever the organization decides to do with their roster this summer, Perkins said there’s no excuse for them to underperform, and the pressure is on newly hired head coach JJ Redick to lead the team farther than Darvin Ham did.

“I think at the bare minimum, they have to at least get to the second round of the playoffs because if you don’t and you were in the same position as last year, which is a first round exit, then I mean what did it really change?” Perk added.

Automatic championship contenders

Perkins also added that no matter what the perception is about the state of this current Lakers roster, they will have to be viewed as championship contenders because they have LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Yes, James may be 40, but he’s still competing at a high level, while Davis is coming off the best season of his career—which is why the Lakers’ front office owes it to their superstars to provide them with the best chance to compete for a championship.

The Lakers’ first task of hiring their new head coach has been accomplished, but there’s still so much to be done for them to get back into contention. Only time will tell if Pelinka and Co. have successfully done their jobs in improving this team, which significantly underperformed last season.