The offseason is in full swing for the Los Angeles Lakers who caught a glimpse at what their team could do this past postseason.
The Lakers made a surprising run all the way to the Western Conference Finals that ended in a sweep to the Denver Nuggets. While the result wasn’t what the organization had hoped for, they still should hang their heads high as the roster proved they could play against the best teams in the league.
With the summer looming, the Lakers now have several choices to make on players either under contract or who will hit free agency. Malik Beasley is one of the names to look out for as he’s got a team option for the 2023-24 season. Beasley has already expressed his desire to stay in Los Angeles, and he has a solid case as he and the other trade deadline acquisitions helped fuel their push to make the playoffs.
Although Beasley played sparingly in the postseason, he got an up-close look at how well the Lakers played and he believes that if they get a training camp together then they can win it all.
“Definitely a championship. Just the fact that we weren’t even here for the majority of the season just shows that if we get a training camp together, if we get the first half of the season together let alone the rest of the season I think we could be really great. I think we could win a championship. We were right there right now and unfortunately Denver played better than us. Like I said, I don’t think a team can beat us in a seven-game series again if we have this type of experience and play together and have training camp together.”
How L.A. managed to integrate so many new pieces into their rotation on the fly is nothing short of incredible and makes it easy to understand why Beasley is so high on their chances next year. Chemistry and continuity are underrated elements to any championship team, so it’ll be interesting to see how the front office operates in the coming month.
Lakers likely to pick up Malik Beasley’s team option
Beasley’s team option is for $16.5 million, a decent mid-sized contract. While the sharpshooter is probably not worth that much, he’s still a useful floor spacer that the team needs around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. His contract could also be used to move in a deal for an upgrade, which makes it likely that the Lakers pick up his option.
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