The start of the NBA’s free agent period is only hours away from beginning and several players with connections to the Lakers are preparing to meet with other teams as free agency opens.
Adios JaVale?
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports that former Lakers center JaVale McGee is scheduled to meet with the Houston Rockets when free agency opens. As we’ve written here before, there projects to be quite a few cost-effective options at center in this season’s free agent period other than McGee.
While McGee had a career season for the Lakers as their starting center last season and served LeBron well as a pick and roll finisher, the Lakers may look to add someone who wants to bang with the biggest players in the league.
D-Lo and KAT?
With Kyrie Irving looking more like a Brooklyn Net by the hour, the fate of Nets All-Star point guard D’Angelo Russell has become one of the league’s most interesting questions.
A reunion with the Los Angeles Lakers, due to their cap space, need at point guard and no longer employing Magic Johnson, have been an oft-discussed scenario. But a team in the former home of the Lakers appears keen on stealing Russell away: the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Wolves don’t currently have the cap space to sign Russell. But they can get creative by opening space via trade by trading a player like Andrew Wiggins (or the combination of Jeff Teague and Gorgui Dieng) to a team with cap space.
Although the Lakers and Russell reportedly have a mutual interest, the Lakers will first meet with Kawhi Leonard, who is the NBA’s top free agent.
