The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to come together.
No team has had more change over this offseason than the Los Angeles Lakers.
The team finished fourth in the Western Conference, and won a playoff round against the Houston Rockets, but lost six rotation players in the offseason.
Gone are LeBron James, Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton, and Jaxson Hayes. The first five were the starting lineup for the Lakers in Game 1 of the playoffs, leading the team to a 3-0 lead before Austin Reaves returned for the final two games.
Entering the picture are Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Kevon Looney, Jaden Hardy, Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle and rookie Cameron Carr.
Luka Doncic and Reaves will return as the top two options, but now have to get used to unfamiliar faces.
Offseason Mini-Camp
According to Khobi Price of the California Post, the Lakers held a mini-camp in Las Vegas in an effort to build chemistry.
Jake LaRavia, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Bronny James, three returning players, were there along with Kessler, Sexton, Hardy, and Mamukelashvili.
Austin Reaves was also present, but Luka Doncic was not.
Price noted that the group was just working out and getting familiar with one another, which is a big thing given how much turnover the roster has had over the last month.
Building Chemistry
Teams with this much turnover in an offseason typically aren't championship teams. The most recent title winners have all had multiple seasons with their core being together and playoff lumps.
Doncic and Reaves are the core members of the team, but they've never played a minute with Kessler, who is going to be viewed as a third option given his contract size and what he brings to the table on both ends of the floor.
The other two starters are projected to be Mamukelashvili and Grimes, two more players who haven't played a second alongside Doncic or Reaves. The Lakers' stars are smart players and they will maximize their teammates, but there are small tendencies that can only be built through reps.
It is never too early to start building chemistry with a new roster, and even if Doncic wasn't there, everyone else getting to know each other and learning tendencies and traits will help as the season gets underway.
There will be growing pains for the Lakers throughout the regular season as the team figures it all out, but the more time they have together in the offseason, the better prepared they'll be coming into the regular season.
