The Los Angeles Lakers notably didn’t make any offseason additions to improve the roster for next season. Much to Lakers fans’ frustrations, the team is seemingly bringing back the same group that lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
GM Rob Pelinka was reportedly active in trade talks and free agent negotiations but came up empty-handed. Now, the Lakers have plenty of players under contract who are not good enough to be contributors on a playoff team. There are also no roster spots available for the Lakers to acquire free agents.
That is why it should be a priority for the front office to release a couple of players to create more roster spots and flexibility for potential moves. Here are the three likeliest Lakers to be cut before the 2024-25 season.
1. Christian Wood
This has been the story of Christian Wood in the NBA. Every summer, a team tricks itself into thinking that Wood is a good basketball player thanks to his scoring ability and smooth offensive game. Then mid-way into the season, they realize he can’t do anything else on the floor and is terrible defensively. Later, Wood signs elsewhere. There is a reason he has played for eight teams in eight seasons in the league.
That would have happened again if the Lakers hadn’t given him a player option for next season for some mind-boggling reason. Now, they are stuck with him. At age 28 and with a proven track record of being a defensive liability, he won’t have many trade suitors. Therefore, the only way for the Lakers to create a roster spot would be to waive him.
2. Jaxson Hayes
Hayes is another big man who had a ton of potential coming into the league but has failed to live up to it so far in his career. After four seasons in New Orleans, he signed with the Lakers last offseason and was the primary backup to Anthony Davis all year. In 70 games played, Hayes averaged 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 12.5 minutes of action per game.
The 24-year-old center didn’t provide sufficient production in the minutes Davis wasn’t available. On either end of the floor, he lacked the necessary athleticism, size, and overall impact.
The Lakers’ defense fell off a cliff whenever Davis was off the floor as Hayes struggled to rebound the ball or protect the rim, forcing AD to play more minutes than the Lakers would ideally want him to.
In similarly mind-boggling fashion, the Lakers gave Hayes a player option for the 2024-25 season, which he opted into, further kneecapping the Lakers’ flexibility this summer.
Hayes hasn’t been able to show much so far in his career so it’s hard to imagine him having much trade value. However, the Lakers wouldn’t miss him if they were to cut him before training camp. Taking a flyer on a young center or giving a second chance to another big man would be a better use of resources for Los Angeles.
3. Cam Reddish
Yes, you guessed it right. Another player that the Lakers gave an inexplicable player option for the 2024-25 season.
Cam Reddish is also similar to Hayes and Wood in the sense that teams got intrigued by his potential ability, which hasn’t turned into actual production on the court.
On paper, Reddish has the ideal skillset the Lakers need. At 6-foot-8, he can guard multiple positions, shoot the three, and provide athleticism. In practice, however, he is not an impactful player.
He is a career 32.4% shooter from downtown and hit 33.6% last year. He finished the year averaging 5.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal in 20.5 minutes per game while shooting 38.9% from the field.
In addition to his struggles from the field, Reddish also couldn’t stay healthy. He only managed to play 48 games. Considering how he has struggled with availability throughout his career, this was in line with what to expect from the former Duke star.
At age 24, Reddish could still have some untapped potential. Should the Lakers hope Reddish finally takes that next step next season? Probably not. This team needs upgrades now, and they can find them by creating a roster spot by cutting Reddish before the 2024-25 campaign.