How I Dug Into Those Crazy 2015 Lakers Roster Moves
So yeah, I got sucked into this Lakers rabbit hole again. Wanted to figure out exactly how that 2015 roster became… well, the mess it was. Remembered it was wild, but the details? Kinda fuzzy. Started simple: Googled “2015 Lakers roster changes.” Boom, Wikipedia popped up first, obviously. That got me the basic timeline.
Okay, step one: Before the Madness. Wanted to know who they actually had going into the season. Pulled up Basketball-Reference’s squad page from summer 2014. Names like Kendall Marshall, Ryan Kelly… guys who faded fast. Steve Nash was still technically there? But everyone knew that was done. Felt bad remembering.
Then I dove into the Trades. Man, they were dealing! First thing that stood out? Swapping Lin and a pick for Houston’s junk. Felt like a salary dump, even back then. Houston just wanted the pick, basically. Lakers got stuck with a random Rockets dude, some draft rights, and cap space they blew later. Not great.
Then came the big one with Phoenix. Needed a proper point guard since Lin was gone. They sent the Bucks’ pick back to Phoenix for Goran Dragic? Wait, no. That felt wrong. Looked closer. They flipped Phoenix an actual Lakers pick to get Jeremy Lin…? My brain started hurting. Needed to untangle this mess.
Pulled up the actual NBA transaction log archives (thank goodness those exist!). Ahhh! Got it: Lakers sent the draft rights to Nemanja Nedovic and cash to Phoenix. What did they get back? Oh yeah… Steve Blake! They shipped Lin plus some picks to Houston, then Phoenix sent them… Steve Blake?! And then later that season, they traded Blake to Golden State? Pure chaos. Just swapping warm bodies. Felt like they were spinning wheels. Kept checking dates to follow the sequence:
- July 11/12-ish: Lin + picks to Houston, got Rockets flotsam back.
- July 13-ish: Sent Nedovic/cash to Phoenix, got Steve Blake back.
- February 2015: Traded Blake to Golden State for Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks! Another round of swapsies!
After untangling that trade spaghetti, I looked at the New Signings. Free agency was… interesting. They basically signed every former star they could find clinging to NBA life. Carlos Boozer? Waived from Chicago. Ed Davis? Young guy who played okay. Ronnie Price? Solid backup. Wayne Ellington? Nice shooter. But the headliners? Oh man.
- Jeremy Lin? Trade.
- Nick Young? Re-signed, always a rollercoaster.
- Kobe? Kobe.
- And then… THEY SIGNED WESLEY JOHNSON. AGAIN. Why?! Dude could jump out the gym but couldn’t shoot consistently! Already knew his deal from the year before.
Piecing it all together left me shaking my head. So much activity, so little actual progress. Felt like the front office was panicking, throwing darts. Dumping salary here, bringing in old names there, constantly flipping mid-level guys. Ended up with a strange mix of fading stars, project players, and Kobe Bryant trying to carry it all. Wasn’t surprised remembering how that season ended up. Looked shiny on paper for a second, maybe? But digging into the moves showed it was built on sand and desperation.
