Let's Not Sleep on Brook Lopez

It's unusual when the best player in any trade is ignored like Brook Lopez has been since the Brooklyn Nets dealt him to the Los Angeles Lakers back in June. We'll cover the understandable reasons why this particular situation is an outlier, but Lopez's short-term impact in Los Angeles still doesn't deserve to be universally overlooked.

For a team that won't be very good next season, Lopez is talented enough to simplify life for his new teammates while putting up impressive numbers that have the potential to recalibrate his own future as a valuable puzzle piece. Only 29 years old, with serious foot problems that stigmatized earlier parts of his career conceivably in the rearview mirror, Lopez is entering an upgraded version of what he endured in Brooklyn the last couple seasons.

The Lakers are bad but gifted, with a rising off guard who can defend multiple positions (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope), a prodigious pass-always rookie (Lonzo Ball), a budding blue-chipper on the wing (Brandon Ingram), limited flotsam that's flashed usefulness here and there (Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., Julius Randle) up and down the roster, and once-crafty veterans who may no longer have any use in a winning environment (Luol Deng, Corey Brewer).

It's fair to brush Lopez off, focus on cap space, the shinier toys L.A. has to play with, and an ostensibly bright future that overshadows the present day. Stuck in the same boat as Caldwell-Pope, Randle, and a few others on this year's team, Lopez's expiring contract all but ensures this season will be his one and only at Staples Center. In order to take on multiple max contracts next summer, the Lakers need to renounce all cap holds and shed excess salary that exists elsewhere on the books (Deng, Clarkson, etc.).

This includes Lopez, who has a massive $34 million cap hold come July. But how the one-time All-Star fits on this roster is an intriguing circumstance worth exploring. In all likelihood, he's their best player and, if Los Angeles' goal is to win, he'll lead the team in scoring, usage rate, and myriad other statistical categories.

On the surface this seems problematic. Instead of reinforcing youngsters who need touches, shots, and opportunity, feeding a low-post behemoth who won't be around beyond this season feels like a mistake. But Lopez is no sinkhole. His presence will make life easier on both ends of the floor for most of L.A.'s tentpole prospects, and without a first-round pick in this year's draft, fostering favorable habits inside a positive atmosphere should be the ultimate goal.

The Lakers must show they can be competitive if they want to attract some of the league's brightest individual stars next summer; Lopez's skill-set complements their youth movement in so many different ways. Let's begin with a look at the offense. The Lakers finished 24th in offensive rating, 19th in three-point rate, and 28th in the percentage of their threes that were assisted last season.

A major reason for the dilemma was a frontcourt that couldn't shoot. Timofey Mozgov, Tarik Black, Thomas Robinson, Ivica Zubac, Nance Jr., and Randle combined to make 28 threes. Randle was the only one who even attempted at least 50 shots beyond the arc. This is a debilitating flaw in today's NBA, where bigs who can space the floor, create their own shot, and provide some type of plus presence on the defensive end are increasingly precious.

Meanwhile, by himself, Lopez launched 387 threes, making just over half from the corner and about a third from above-the-break. According to Synergy Sports, he ranked in the 62nd percentile as a pick-and-pop weapon. Be it hoisting up open set shots or attacking a closeout on his way to the rim, Lopez had the type of direct gravitational pull no Laker big has matched in years.

The ripple effect will do wonders for every one of L.A.'s ball-handlers, from Clarkson and Ball to KCP and Ingram. Even Randle will be able to take advantage if Luke Walton implements tricky 4-5 pick-and-rolls into the offense. Unless they aren't afraid to forfeit an open three, defenses have little margin for error executing their scheme, whether they switch, drop back, or hedge a high screen.

There will be plenty of instances where he'll simply stand in the corner, force the opposing team's most intimidating rim protector to cover more ground than he's used to, and pry open lanes that didn't exist a season ago. The Nets scored 103.4 points per 100 possessions with Lopez on the court last year, which, coincidentally, is the exact same number L.A. averaged as a team. But whenever he sat, Brooklyn's offense plummeted to a team-low 99.9 points per 100 possessions, which sinks below the 30th ranked Philadelphia 76ers.

On the perimeter he's a major plus. But that's not where a majority of Lopez's skills are utilized. He's one of the more reliable post scorers in basketball, and arguably the most confident scorer in the game from the non-restricted area of the paint. His push shot from just inside the free-throw line turns the ball into a butterfly, and stopping him with one defender is damn near impossible.

Yes, this methodology is antiquated and plays into why Lopez—reputed as a plodding seven footer—is never mentioned as a notable member of next summer's free agent class. But there's a safety net effect to what he provides, a relatively efficient "dump it down low and get out of the way" last resort that can be found in almost every legitimate offensive structure. Lopez's action down low forces help defenders to react. That matters.

Only four players drew more hard double teams in the post last year, per Synergy Sports: Karl-Anthony Towns, DeMarcus Cousins, Marc Gasol, and Enes Kanter. That level of attention can open up opportunities on the perimeter, while also allowing Ingram, Ball, Randle, Clarkson, and everyone else to put pressure on a rotating defense with well-timed cuts to the basket. (His assist rate crept up to a career-high 14.8 percent last year.)

Lopez isn't the ideal pillar of a modern offense, but his various skills allow Walton to exhale. He's smart, talented, and stands as a humongous and reliable moving target everyone else on the team can seek out when in trouble.

On the other end, Lopez's syrupy foot speed disrupts Walton's desire to fulfill a switch-happy scheme popularized by the Golden State Warriors. That's awkward against some teams, but having a giant man the middle and protect the paint has its own advantages against others (i.e. teams that can't shoot). Among all players who defended at least six shots at the rim per game last year, Lopez's 47 percent ranked fifth behind Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert, Draymond Green, and Kristaps Porzingis.

Again, he isn't flexible, but when challenged straight on Lopez transforms into an unscalable mountain. (Most of the time.) There are superior defenders at the center position, but when plopped beside Randle—who allowed the highest field goal percentage among players who defended at least five shots at the rim last season—Lopez's size becomes particularly helpful.

In the end, it makes perfect sense for people to question Lopez's place in a league that's eradicating his kind. But last season, eclipsed by the fact he was the most competent option on the NBA's worst team, Lopez quietly adapted to the league's most pressing trend. He'll never be quick enough to switch out on the perimeter and capably defend someone like Steph Curry or James Harden on an island, but Lopez has a great opportunity to boost his stock on a Lakers team that should, at the very least, give people reason to tune in.