The Los Angeles Lakers are in this sort of weird transition phase. They know that time is running out on LeBron James' career . James dealing with a sciatica issue is a telltale sign of his age, and at this point, with the NBA's all-time leading scorer taking up a huge percentage of the team's salary cap, it will not be until next year or the year after that when the Lakers could build a team that's tailor-made for Luka Doncic .

Nevertheless, the Lakers have a very good team now . They did win 50 games last year after all, and they managed to at least maintain a similar level of talent up and down the roster. Gone is Dorian Finney-Smith, and in are Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia. Those pieces, on their own, are not needle-moving. But they do address certain position

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