[ad_1]
With Russell Westbrook returning home to play with Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a ton of flexibility to add players around their three stars. The team are expected to have the $ 5.9 million mid-level mini-exception to use in free agency, and can exceed the cap to re-sign their own free agents like Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso, but at beyond that, it will mainly add to the list of minimum veterans contracts.
The good news is that the team would have quite a few good players willing to take less to join a title contender in Los Angeles. Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer said earlier this week that league officials felt there were veterans lining up to take less to join the Lakers, and on Saturday Fischer reported who some of those names were are supposed to be (via B / R):
With Westbrook now headed to Los Angeles, several league staff contacted by B / R expect there to be significant interest from several veterans, including DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, and Carmelo Anthony, to drop out. higher salary opportunities elsewhere and join the Lakers in pursuit of a championship.
For what it’s worth, this conflicts slightly with a report by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports on Friday, in which Haynes reported that the possibility DeRozan is dead now that Kyle Kuzma is no longer available to be traded to Spurs in a sign. -and- trade exchange. DeRozan is expected to take a pay cut of more than $ 20 million to join the Lakers at this point.
But DeRozan or No DeRozan, Gay, and Anthony definitely seem like real possibilities. LeBron has wanted his banana boat pal Anthony on the Lakers for a while, and Anthony would seemingly want one more chance to chase a ring, something he has few chances to do with the Portland Trail Blazers. He also played for the veteran’s minimum so financially it’s easy to see an adjustment.
Anthony spent 71% of his minutes in power last season and also hit a career high of 40.9% at 3 points, according to Basketball-Reference. capable shooters from a distance.
Gay is set to take a slightly bigger pay cut after making $ 14.5million last season, but could be a realistic contender for the mid-tier if he’s willing to take less to win his first title. He would also give the Lakers a capable four-way stretch after shooting 38.1% of three last year (the third-highest percentage of his career) and playing 88% of his minutes up front, per BBall-Ref .
Gay and Anthony could help the Lakers space the floor with their shots while potentially offering more value than the contracts the Lakers could sign them to, making them really solid targets for the team, if they are actually available. . But whether those two are coming on board specifically, or whether it’s DeRozan or other veterans, all signs point to the Lakers getting their money’s worth. For a team with limited means to financially complete their free agency roster, this is about the best news possible.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on itunes, Spotify, Stapler or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
[ad_2]
Source link