21 million US dollars in 1 year! 28 points and 14 rebounds. Look, this is the center the Lakers need.

In the opening game against the Warriors, Ayton made 5 of 7 shots and scored 10 points and 6 rebounds. Hayes made 2 of 3 shots and scored 4 points and 6 rebounds.

Regardless of data or game perception, both of them are unqualified.

Ayton's problem is that he is "soft". To be precise, he lacks physical confrontation and eye defense. Hayes' problem is that he has athletic ability but lacks tactical execution. To put it bluntly, he is a talented "dancing boy".

It was still the first game. In the Bulls' game against the Pistons, Vucevic made 11 of 18 shots, 4 of 6 three-pointers, and scored 28 points and 14 rebounds.

In fact, in my opinion, Vucevic is the center the Lakers need.

Reason 1: Features. In the game against the Pistons, Vucevic made 6 three-pointers and hit 4 goals. In fact, in 972 games so far in his NBA career, Vucevic has a three-point rate of 34.8%. For comparison, Lopez is 35.2% and Myles Turner is 36.2%.

In other words, even if he cannot reach the top level of Towns and Peak Love, opponents dare not let him go short easily.

So far in his career, 16.7% of Doncic's shots have come from the basket, and 21.9% have come from near the basket. Nearly 40% of the shots come from goals. Obviously, if you want to be more efficient, you need to have enough offensive space.

For the Lakers, Vucevic can have the same effect as Antetokounmpo before Lopez. In terms of statistics, Antetokounmpo's shooting rate per 100 possessions increased by 2.3 percentage points when he was on the court with Lopez. Obviously, with the same spatial attributes, Vucevic can also open up space for Doncic's offense.

In the game against the Pistons, Vucevic grabbed 4 offensive rebounds. In fact, his career offensive rebounding rate of 8.7% so far is not inferior at all to rebounding masters such as Gobert and Kessler. Excellent offensive rebounding brings an increase in the team's second offensive opportunities.

Reason 2: Contract. After entering the new season, Vucevic still has a one-year contract of US$21 million.

Why is Rui Hachimura relatively cost-effective?

In addition to having a certain level of immediate combat capability, it has a lot to do with the one-year expiration contract of 18 million yuan. To be precise, expiring contracts are still very attractive to teams that can free up salary space and deal with junk contracts.

Taking a step back, the follow-up operations of an expired contract are also very flexible - if you enter, renew the contract; if you exit, the contract will not be renewed.

Similarly, Vucevic's follow-up operations under the expired contract are also very flexible. For the Lakers, whether to renew the contract can be decided based on season performance.

Speaking of which, here comes something interesting.

It is reported that the Lakers management will recruit Antetokounmpo or Jokic in 27, so Vucevic's expiring contract will not affect the team's so-called plan.

Of course, compared to the offensive and defensive ends, Vucevic is very average. In terms of statistics, the defensive real plus-minus value so far in his career is 0.2, which can only be said to be quite satisfactory.

To sum up, the reason why Vucevic is the center the Lakers need is that on the one hand, his three-point and rebound characteristics are suitable for the team, and more importantly, on the other hand, the follow-up operations under the expired contract are very flexible.

Finally, considering the Bulls' rebuilding of the team and the expiration of the contract, the Lakers still have a chance to get Vucevic.