The Los Angeles Lakers will need to continue to improve their roster during the remainder of the offseason, but they haven't done badly for themselves.
Deandre Ayton could be a decent player if he performs at the level that everybody knows he can when he tries as hard as he can, and Jake LaRavia is a decent player.
While the Lakers may not be contenders in the Western Conference, they could be if they make the right supporting moves.
When searching for what those moves could be, it was recently reported by Anthony Irwin of Clutch Points that the Lakers have some interest in bringing in former Boston Celtics fan favorite and current Washington Wizards guard Marcus Smart.
Some have speculated that Smart could get bought out over the next few weeks, and if he does, there are expected to be many teams around the league interested in him.
“Previous trade targets include Andrew Wiggins and Robert Williams, among others, and a couple new names have garnered some attention given how the rest of the offseason has played out to this point. Sources say Matisse Thybulle, Marcus Smart (though most teams are watching to see if he's going to be bought out), Ayo Dosunmu and others are names the Lakers have had preliminary conversations with teams about availability and price, though no offers have been made,” they wrote.
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Smart would be a great defender for the Lakers, but it's tough to say that he’d put them over the top. While he has his strengths, many Celtics fans also acknowledge that he has his weaknesses, and at times, these weaknesses can be glaring.
The current Lakers team isn't as good as the prior Celtics team he was on, which is also something that has to be factored in here.