Recently Released Lakers Fan Favorite Lands Deal With Rival Team

Jordan Goodwin was a pleasant surprise for the Los Angeles Lakers last season. He spent some of the year on the South Bay Lakers G League team, but eventually earned a spot in the rotation and even played in four of their five playoff games.

He quickly became a fan favorite due to the fact that he came out of nowhere to be an impact player. However, the Lakers decided to go in a different direction recently. To help make room for the Marcus Smart addition, the team had to waive Goodwin. Perhaps if he cleared waivers, Los Angeles could’ve brought him back, but that won’t be the case.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Goodwin was claimed by the Phoenix Suns. This will actually be his second stint with the team, as he was traded to them during the 2023-24 season, before getting traded again.

Though it’s a different coaching staff in Phoenix, there must have been some people in the building who liked what Goodwin did. He played in 40 games for the Suns in 2023-24 and averaged 5.0 points per game. It remains to be seen if Goodwin will be on their final roster when the season starts, but the fact that they claimed him is a good sign.

Lakers Get ‘C’ Grade for Offseason

It has been an up-and-down offseason for the Lakers. They missed out on many of the available big names on the trade market and free agency, while also losing Dorian Finney-Smith. However, they were able to upgrade in some key spots.

While it wasn’t a perfect offseason, Yahoo Sports gave the Lakers a “C” grade for their offseason.

“The Lakers lost Dorian Finney-Smith, one of the best 3-and-D wings on the market, to the Rockets — not great for a team that requires defense-first role players around Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves,” Ben Rohrbach wrote.

“They instead signed Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia, a nice haul for around the same amount of money that Finney-Smith received. Ayton, of course, is a 26-year-old former No. 1 overall pick, Smart is a one-time Defensive Player of the Year, and LaRavia shot 42.3% from 3-point range last year. None of their previous teams wanted to keep them, which should raise some red flags for Lakers fans.”

Marcus Smart Has Eyes on Championship

With an early playoff exit last season and a lackluster offseason, not many are going to be predicting the Lakers to win the championship this season. Despite that, new guard Marcus Smart has the NBA Finals on his mind.

“It’s at the top. I mean, the main goal, the reason you go out and you compete the way you compete is to try to win championships and what better place to be able to do that than here, where the show starts and where the show ends?” Smart told reporters. “So, that was definitely a big part of it, being able to get back on that stage, being able to get to a team that definitely could use me. And I know I can make an impact and I can help as well and that was a perfect fit here.”