Lakers News: ESPN Insider Excited For LA’s Future After WCF Elimination

Finding light in the darkness of a sweep.

Your Los Angeles Lakers' 2023 postseason run may have ended with a bummer of a four-game sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, but one pundit who's followed Lakers All-Star LeBron James for his entire career believes the team can actually get better this summer.

On a recent episode of his essential ESPN podcast Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective, Windhorst spoke about his own excitement regarding LA's future, even in the wake of its Western Conference Finals defeat. Windhorst voiced his skepticism that James would actually retire at this summer, as he threatened to do in his presser following the sweep.

"Look it might end up being the swan song [for the Lakers] because it's hard to win eight playoff games to get back to the conference finals. But if it's the swan song, it'll be just because the Lakers don't get it done, it will not be because he is done," Windhorst opined. "He is not the same player he was five years ago, we all know that, but... I don't think this should be a down moment for the Lakers. I think they have upward mobility for this roster. They traded for a bunch of guys, they have the option to re-sign them [or] they can create salary cap space and go out in free agency. They're not gonna have max salary cap space. They can go out in free agency and add to this roster. They still have a first round pick in [2029] I think that they can trade. They have a first round pick in this year's draft [No. 17] they can either use on a player to add to their rotation or they can trade... after the draft, on draft night. They still have mechanisms to get better."

Windhorst expounded on this point, citing just how the roster's team building can improve during the offseason.

"I don't think the Lakers are done at all. Look I know that there's gonna be some commentary on [LA center] Anthony Davis... That's who Anthony Davis is. Anthony Davis is a guy who sometimes plays great and sometimes plays like [he did in Game 4, inconsistently on offense] and okay, that's good enough to win at a high level. You just need to get a little bit more help. And I think that they can do that."

The Lakers only have four players -- James, Davis, power forward Jarred Vanderbilt, and rookie shooting guard Max Christie -- under contract at present. It seems likely that the team will at least re-sign restricted free agent shooting guards Austin Reaves to a long-term deal, and most likely restricted free agent power forward Rui Hachimura, too. How Los Angeles chooses to operate beyond that is anybody's guess.

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