After trading for elite 3&D wing Dorian Finney-Smith, the ‘right players’ whom the Lakers should next target are Grizzlies’ former DPOY point guard Marcus Smart and Jazz’ shot-blocking defensive center Walker Kessler.

While it will require major draft capital, Smart and Kessler are the ‘right players’ for the Lakers to target because they would transform the Lakers into a defense-first team and dramatically upgrade depth and continuity. Smart and Kessler earn just $23 million per year so the Lakers would only have to give up Hachimura, Hood-Schifino, Reddish, and Wood while still keeping valuable backups like Vincent, Vanderbilt, Christie and Milton.

Trading for Smart and Kessler would cost the Lakers serious draft capital in the form of 2 first round picks, 1 first round pick swap, and 2 second round picks but only 1 starter and 3 bench players who are not part of the future.

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In comparison, if the Lakers traded for Pelicans’ point guard Dejounte Murray and Pacers’ center Myles Turner, who combined earn $50 million per year, they’d have also had to give up Vincent, Vanderbilt, and Christie.

While Murray and Turner might have the ‘highest ceiling’ of any point guard and center duo the Lakers might trade for, a Smart and Kessler trade has almost as much upside but clearly allows greater depth and continuity.
Being able to retain Vincent, Vanderbilt, and Christie not only dramatically strengthens the Lakers’ backups but leaves them with multiple tradable salaries that could be used to make additional moves to upgrade the roster.

While costly in terms of draft capital, here are the four reasons why Marcus Smart and Walker Kessler are the ‘right point guard and center duo’ for the Lakers to target to transform their roster into a championship contender.

1. Transform Lakers Into Defense-First Team

Starting Smart at point guard and Kessler at center alongside Davis at power forward would transform the Lakers into a legitimate defense-first NBA team with three elite defenders starting and three coming off bench.

Starting Marcus Smart with Austin Reaves in the backcourt and Walker Kessler with Anthony Davis and LeBron James in the front court would transform the L.A.’s starting lineup into a legitimate defensive juggernaut.
Suddenly, the Lakers rotation would boast six proven defense-first players including starters Anthony Davis, Marcus Smart, and Walker Kessler and reserves Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Dorian Finney-Smith.

The Lakers now have the 13th best offense and 8th worst defense in the league. Their problem in a nutshell is they can play top-5 offense or top-10 defense for stretches but can’t figure out how to do both at same time.
While the Lakers have claimed they’re totally committed to a defense-first style of basketball, the question remains whether Rob Pelinka is willing to spend the valuable draft capital it’ll take to transform the Lakers’ defense.

Replacing 6 one-way players in Russell, Lewis, Hachimura, Hood-Schifino, Milton, and Reddish with 3 legitimate two-way players in Finney-Smith, Smart, and Kessler would transform the Lakers into a defense-first team.
With every rotation lineup boasting a majority of solid defenders, the Lakers will suddenly become one of the top defensive teams in the NBA. Even mediocre defenders like Austin Reaves will become better defenders.

Having three elite defenders in the starting lineup and three plus defenders in their bench rotation should immediately transform the Los Angeles Lakers from an offense-first to a deep and talented defense-first team.

2. Transform Starting Lineup Into Juggernaut

Starting Marcus Smart at point guard and Walker Kessler at center would immediately transform the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup from an offense-first fivesome to what could be a legitimate defensive juggernaut.

Right now, the Lakers’ starting lineup of Reaves, Christie, Hachimura, James, and Davis has posted an excellent Offrtg of 109.6, Defrtg of 104.0, and Netrtg of +5.6 for 105 minutes in 10 games played for the season.
While those are actually good numbers for a starting lineup, replacing Christie and Hachimura with Smart and Kessler would greatly upgrade their perimeter point-of-attack defense and low post rim protection.

Pairing former DPOY Marcus Smart with Austin Reaves instead of young unproven Max Christie would dramatically upgrade the Lakers’ point-of-attack perimeter defense, especially in playoffs where experience counts.
Similarly, pairing Walker Kessler with Anthony Davis instead of offense-first Rui Hachimura would immediately upgrade the starting lineup’s size and physicality, particularly against teams who play two-bigs lineups.

While there could be teams where starting two bigs might not be the best matchup, the Lakers will always have the option of starting Finney-Smith at small forward and moving James and Davis to power forward and center.
That alternative Lakers’ starting lineup would include Marcus Smart and Austin Reaves as backcourt guards and LeBron James and Dorian Finney-Smith as front court forwards with Anthony Davis reverting to center.

Trading for Marcus Smart and Walker Kessler to replace Max Christie and Rui Hachimura would transform the Lakers’ starting lineup into both an offensive and defensive juggernaut that would among best in league.

3. Upgrade Rotation Depth and Versatility

Trading for Marcus Smart and Walker Kessler to start at point guard and center would enable the Lakers to dramatically upgrade their rotational depth and versatility to better matchup against different opponents.

Being able to retain valuable rotation players like Vincent, Christie, Vanderbilt, Finney-Smith, and Hayes when trading for Smart and Kessler is key to the Lakers being able to win the minutes when their superstars rest.
Having two elite shot blocking defensive centers who together can essentially put a lid on the the Lakers basket for all 48 minutes of every game will also dramatically improve the Lakers’ non-starting lineups.

The Lakers would have experienced, trustworthy backups at all 5 spots with Gabe Vincent at the one, Max Christie at the two, Jarred Vanderbilt at the three, Dorian Finney-Smith at the four, and Jaxson Hayes at the five.
That would leave the Lakers with three young development projects in Shake Milton, LeBron James Jr., and Dalton Knecht plus two open roster spots that could be filled by free agents or by L.A.’s two-way players.

Opening up two roster spots will give the Lakers the opportunity to convert one of their two-way players to a standard contract, upgrade one of their backup players, or sign a promising new young player to be developed.
Ideally, the Lakers need strong backups at all five positions in case a starter gets injured or is in foul trouble and development players who can step up when needed when one of their backups suffers injury or foul problems.

Being able to retain Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Max Christie is critical to building the strong 9 or 10-man rotation the Lakers will need if they want to legitimately compete for their 18th NBA championship.

4. Optimize Other Roster Opportunities

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One of the other benefits of the trades for Marcus Smart and Walker Kessler is it still leaves the Lakers with two open roster spots, around $8 million in cap space under 1st apron, and multiple tradable salaries.

While the Lakers would have used much of their draft capital to trade for Smart and Kessler, they still have several players like Gabe Vincent, Max Christie, and Jarred Vanderbilt who could be swapped in another trade.
The post trade depth chart clearly shows that the Lakers could use a modern center who could stretch the floor and a bruising power forward who could extend their positional size advantage in the front court.

There are also a group of viable bigs that earns around $10M/yr and another group who earns less than $5M/yr, whom the Lakers could still swap Vincent, Vanderbilt, or Christie for more roster depth and versatility.
The Lakers could trade Gabe Vincent ($11M/yr), Jarred Vanderbilt ($10.7M/yr), and/or Max Christie ($7.1M/yr) for a center like Kelly Olynyk ($12.8M/yr), Robert Williams ($12.4M/yr), or Day’Ron Sharpe ($3.9M/yr).

Olynyk would give the Lakers a invaluable modern offensive center who’s an elite 3-point shooting, playmaking four or five while Williams would give them an all-world defender who could be a star if he can stay healthy.
Both would be massive upgrades that would give the Lakers’ front court major positional advantage and critical insurance against Anthony Davis or Walker Kessler becoming injured or getting into serious foul trouble.

The Lakers learned the hard way this summer why building a roster with maximum positional and financial flexibility is an absolute necessity for the team to be able to respond to the market and emerging opportunities.