After Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers season, many people pointed to a lack of wing depth that was exposed by L.A. Clippers star Kawhi Leonard on his way to 30 points. While Danny Green and Anthony Davis each did a valiant job on him, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope proved to be too slight to cover Leonard while LeBron James likely can’t take on those assignments at this stage of his career.
The first game has brought everybody back to the guy who has been connected to the Lakers for months but still remains on the roster of the Memphis Grizzlies: 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala. According to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan speaking on The Hoop Collective podcast, several players in the league believe Iguodala is ear-marked for the Lakers whenever he leaves Memphis.
(H/T to Anthony Irwin of Silver Screen and Roll)
“He’s going to the Lakers. I’ve had four different players tell me that. Every player I talk to tells me that.”
So what does this mean as Iguodala sits on the Grizzlies roster? Not a whole lot. As of right now, Memphis is clearly hoping to hold onto Iguodala in hopes of extracting some sort of asset in exchange for the veteran wing. Although the Lakers don’t have many tools at their disposal to execute a trade following the Anthony Davis trade, several other teams may be in a position to convince themselves on a half-season rental of Iguodala.
Also, considering most of the league’s signed new contracts this offseason, all of those players who signed new deals can’t be traded until Dec. 15. We will likely have to wait until at least then to get a clearer idea on where Iguodala will finally end up.
