The offseason has started for the Los Angeles Lakers after the Denver Nuggets knocked them out of the NBA playoffs on Monday. It will be a very pivotal offseason that could hold a lot of change for them.
Multiple key members of the team can or will become free agents this summer. Of course, that starts with LeBron James, who has a player option for next season and was mum about what he may do following Game 5 of the series versus the Nuggets.
One Lakers player who will definitely be a free agent when the new league year begins is reserve guard Spencer Dinwiddie. He said on Monday he’d love to stick around for next season.
Spencer Dinwiddie said he'd love to be a Laker next season if the Lakers are interested in re-signing him.
He noted that the Lakers are a championship-or-bust organization and that big changes are likely coming in the name of building a title-worthy roster.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 30, 2024
Los Angeles signed Dinwiddie from the buyout market in February. While some fans praised the move, he turned out to be a big disappointment.
In 28 regular season games with the team, the veteran guard mustered just 6.8 points and 2.4 assists in 24.2 minutes a game while shooting 39.7% from the field, although he did make 38.9% of his 3-point attempts. In five playoff games versus Denver, he was even worse: 3.0 points and 1.6 assists in 14.6 minutes a contest on 35.7% overall shooting and 25.0% from downtown.
In nine previous seasons, he had averaged 13.8 points and 5.3 assists in 27.7 minutes a game.
Perhaps Lakers head coach Darvin Ham misused him by not putting the ball in his hands more often and letting him attack downhill to get shots either for himself or a teammate.
