For the last few years, the Los Angeles Lakers have had a miserable offseason, which led them to fire general manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Jim Buss. Magic Johnson was hired as president of basketball operations and Rob Pelinka was named general manager.

With a new front office in place, the Lakers began the offseason with a bang. They traded D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and the 27th overall pick in the draft. While Russell was one of the Lakers’ young, promising assets, the team essentially dumped Mozgov’s awful contract.

It had to come at the cost of losing Russell, but the Lakers had other things in mind.

In the deal, they at least acquired an established big man in Lopez, who has an expiring contract, as that will benefit the Lakers. They also acquired the 27th pick in the draft, which turned out to be Kyle Kuzma, the biggest surprise of the Summer League. Kuzma won the Summer League Championship game MVP and displayed major potential on the court. If he can translate that into the regular season, the Lakers will have themselves the biggest steal of the draft.

Free agent signings

Since they were unable to get Paul George, who may come to the Lakers as a free agent next summer anyway, the Lakers went into Free Agency hoping to sign a player to a one-year deal.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was ultimately the guy that would agree to a one-year deal. The 24-year-old will provide the Lakers with three-point shooting and crucial scoring. He will become the team’s starting shooting guard alongside rookie Lonzo Ball.

The Lakers didn’t do much else during free agency. They were hoping to land a veteran point guard to mentor Ball but were unable to convince Derrick Rose to join the team, eventually re-signing Tyler Ennis -- who performed relatively well late last season.

The 2017 NBA draft

The NBA draft was the most important event of the offseason for the Lakers. They had the number two overall pick and selected UCLA standout Lonzo Ball, who was foreseen as the replacement for Russell. Ball showcased his talent during Summer League, accumulating a couple of triple-doubles and winning the MVP award.

He will equip the Lakers with much-needed playmaking.

As mentioned, Kuzma was Los Angeles’ other first-round pick. The 22-year-old impressed the organization with his outstanding three-point shooting, high I.Q., and all-around talent. He averaged 21.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.1 steals in seven Summer League games.

The Lakers essentially filled out the remainder of the roster with their 30th overall pick Josh Hart, who seems to be a legitimate scorer, their 41st overall pick Thomas Bryant, and other Summer League standouts such as Alex Cruso and Vander Blue.

It wasn’t an eventful free agency period for the Lakers, as they did most of their damage through the draft. However, the team is seemingly headed in the right direction.

Roster outlook

  • PG: Lonzo Ball/Alex Caruso/Tyler Ennis
  • SG: Kentavious Caldewell-Pope/Jordan Clarkson/Josh Hart/Vander Blue
  • SF: Brandon Ingram/Corey Brewer/Luol Deng
  • PF: Julius Randle/Larry Nance/Kyle Kuzma
  • C: Brook Lopez/Ivica Zubac/Thomas Bryant
  • Coach: Luke Walton

Offseason Grade: B-