Six players who finished last season in purple and gold are wearing other uniforms now, and the hole each one leaves behind is not the same size.
Six players who closed out last season with the Los Angeles Lakers have new teams this fall, and the front office used that room to rebuild almost the whole rotation around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves.
Some of these exits will barely register, but a couple are going to sting, so here is the list from least painful to most.
The Ones the Lakers Can Live Without
Jaxson Hayes signed a two-year, $12 million deal with Utah after averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 66 games with only nine starts, so Kevon Looney on a minimum deal covers that role.
Luke Kennard is next, and while he hit 44.8 percent from three in 32 games before taking a two-year, $13 million deal from Phoenix, Collin Sexton gives the bench a scorer with more ways to get a bucket.
Deandre Ayton sits fourth after starting all 72 of his games at 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds, and a few days after he picked up his player option the Lakers traded him to Washington for Jaden Hardy and two second-round picks.
That sounds like a loss until Walker Kessler shows up, because he protects the rim in a way Ayton never did.
The whole overhaul is a chemistry gamble, but at center it looks like a clear upgrade.
The Two That Will Actually Hurt
Marcus Smart is third, and this is where it stings.
His numbers were modest, 9.3 points and 1.4 steals in 62 games, but he was the closest thing the Lakers had to a stopper at guard, and Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams can defend without having his feel for a game, so Houston got a bargain at $13 million over two years.
Rui Hachimura is second and badly underrated.
He averaged 11.5 points on 44.3 percent three-point shooting across 68 games without ever needing the ball, which is exactly what a forward next to Dončić needs to do, and now he is with the Clippers on a two-year, $28 million deal while Sandro Mamukelashvili and Quentin Grimes split the job he did by himself.
LeBron Is Still Number One
LeBron James put up 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists in 60 games last season, and he was still the safety valve whenever Dončić sat.
He told the Lakers on June 30 that he was leaving, then signed a two-year deal with Philadelphia in late July, and there was no bitterness when he spoke about it in New York that month.
"Shout out my former team. I spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers … That was an unbelievable ride and I am looking forward to what comes next as I wind down my journey," James said.
The Lakers did not replace him, because nobody can, and instead spread his touches across Reaves, Grimes and Sexton and bet on Kessler covering the gap on defense.
A five time champion with the franchise thinks the drop will be small because Dončić is still here, and that sounds right for the regular season.
The playoffs are where his absence will show, and with 16 guaranteed contracts the team still has to cut somebody before opening night, and none of the candidates is a LeBron.
