Los Angeles Lakers have been fortunate enough this offseason as things went according to their plans. Many experts and fans comment that they have the best performance in the offseason over the other teams. They had a lot of pressure from the fans as well as about their future. But Rob Pelinka and co believed in one thing. It is if they wanted to win the following season, then they had to keep the core together. After all, this core helped them defy all odds to reach the Western Conference Finals last season.
The Los Angeles side became the strongest defensive side, thanks to Anthony Davis. But the strongest offensive side had the better of them reaching the WCF. The Denver Nuggets won 4-0 in the conference finals. It was a humiliating defeat for the Purple and Gold army. Anyhow, the LA side believes in the core group of players. Moreover, the Los Angeles Lakers announced on Twitter that they are on their way to acquiring two new players, Alex Fudge and Cole Swider.
Lakers Plan To Sign Two New Players – Alex Fudge And Cole Swider
The 17-time champions have requested the waivers for Cole Swider as the two-way forward. Moreover, they got Fudge for a two-way contract. As Austin Reaves back in 2021, the Lakers got another undrafted player in the form of Alex Fudge. In College basketball for Florida and LSU, he had an average of 5.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg. For the Gators, he shot 39.7% from the field. Moreover, the 20-year-old Fudge played six games for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League. On the other hand, Cole Swider played seven games for the Lakers in the Summer League. The 24-year-old Swider played for the South Bay Lakers for a significant amount of time.
Lakers' Two-Way Cole Swider had 23 points (7-13 FG, 4-4 FT), 5 rebounds, and 4 assists last night in South Bay's victory over Santa Cruz in the NBA G League. 👊🏼@coleswider21 pic.twitter.com/gTOWnDiQZD
— BDA Sports INTL (@BDASportsINTL) January 30, 2023
Now introducing… ALEX FUDGE ✨#LakersSummer pic.twitter.com/582y2thaAQ
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 6, 2023
OFFICIAL: Welcome to the squad, @iam_AlexFudge! pic.twitter.com/g0dfSXmBky
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 26, 2023
He averaged 17.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, and 1.8 assists in the G League. On top of that, the Lakers were in the hunt for a big man who could take some load off Anthony Davis. The 17-time champions need to provide a balanced workload for the eight-time All-Star. Everybody knows how fragile Anthony Davis is despite being a big man himself. But the LA side needs him to stay healthy for as long as he can to lead the team to the playoffs and maybe the NBA Finals next season. They were looking for someone like Christian Wood. But they might not make that move.
Reporter Believes LA Side Did A Great Job To Retain Austin Reaves
However, the big concern heading toward the free agency was how to retain the three crucial players – Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and D’Angelo Russell. They were free agents for a while. But Rob Pelinka was incredible as the Lakers got those three players and did not have to fight too hard for them with their low cap space. Later, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report mentioned that retaining Austin Reaves was the best move for the Lakers this off-season.
There were so many teams with better cap space who could sign the Oklahoma Sooners Kid with a better offer. But he wanted to stay with the LA side anyway. Moreover, the LA side wanted to maintain balance in the roster. Hence, they acquired Gabe Vincent from the previous runners-up, Miami Heat. He is a replacement for Dennis Schroder, who moved to Toronto Raptors in this offseason. Moreover, the Los Angeles side got quality players to fill the gaps in their roster, like Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish.
