The Los Angeles Lakers may be approaching the offseason with 2021 vision.
Sportswriter Darren Wolfson of KSTP-TV reported this week that the Lakers are a team with interest in Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs. Wolfson had noted that Suggs might be a trade candidate for the Magic if they ended up drafting a guard at the No. 6 overall spot (which Orlando did by selecting Arkansas combo guard Anthony Black).
Suggs is best known for his career with the Gonzaga Bulldogs in which he led the team to the NCAA national title game in 2021. The 22-year-old was the hero in the Final Four against UCLA when he made one of the greatest shots in tournament history to lift Gonzaga to the win at the buzzer. Suggs was also a Second Team All-American and a First Team All-WCC selection in his one year of college.
But Suggs hasn’t really gotten a chance to strut his stuff with the Magic, who drafted him No. 5 overall in 2021. He has been stuck behind Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony on the depth chart and will face even more competition now that Black (plus fellow rookie guard Jett Howard) are in town.
The Lakers need more ball-handlers and three-point shooters with D’Angelo Russell, Dennis Schroder, Lonnie Walker IV, and Austin Reaves all about to hit free agency. Suggs, a high-level passer who can hit a triple (though not quite consistently yet at the pro level), can foreseeably tick off both those boxes. What is interesting too is that the Lakers were also recently eyeing one of Suggs’ former Gonzaga teammates.
