Most championship teams tinker around the edges as they look to improve some of their minor weaknesses. Every once in a while, one will add a big star, as the Warriors did in 2016 when they signed free agent Kevin Durant.
But what the Los Angeles Lakers did this offseason is highly unusual. Five of the team’s top 11 players are no longer with the club, by virtue of either their own accord or of Rob Pelinka’s desire to avoid complacency and push the envelope.
Three players, Avery Bradley, Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo, left the Lakers in free agency.