The agreement to trade for Roy Hibbert caps another dismal free agent season for the Lakers, according to Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. L.A. passed on Jahlil Okafor in the draft because team officials were confident they could land a big man through free agency, he writes. But LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe all chose to go elsewhere. Bresnahan notes that the pattern of free agents turning down the Lakers began with Dwight Howard two years ago and has included Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol.
There’s more news from the Pacific Division:
- Outside of money, the Lakers don’t have much to offer free agents, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. That was evidenced by the team’s disastrous first presentation to Aldridge, which reportedly focused more on the off-court advantages of Los Angeles than on basketball matters, Adande claims. Teams need to have good players to attract great players, he states, and the Lakers are struggling to reach the first step.
- Amar’e Stoudemire was expected to speak with Clippers President of Basketball Operations Doc Rivers Saturday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The forward has interest in several teams, including the Clippers, Mavericks and Pacers, Wojnarowski adds. The Clippers have roughly $2.2MM in exception space left to sign a player beyond the league minimum.
- The Clippers have had conversations about bringing Ryan Hollins back, according to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Hollins played for Doc Rivers when he coached in Boston as well as in his first season as the coach of the Clippers.
- Austin Rivers will probably be a late signing for the Clippers, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Los Angeles has limited Bird Rights on the free agent guard and can offer up to $3,110,796MM per season, which Washburn speculates will be the best he receives in a shrinking market.
- Justin Holiday is unlikely to return to the Warriors, Washburn writes in the same story. The free agent guard will probably leave the defending champs to seek more playing time.
- In addition to the Kings‘ max offer, Tobias Harris also received interest from the Celtics, Pistons, Pelicans and Grizzlies, among others, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets. The Lakers and Knicks were not among the teams to reach out to Harris, Kennedy adds (Twitter link).
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS NEEDED A confident and expirienced SHOOTER as a Rodney Stuckey 29 years old PPG 12.6 RPG 3.5 APG 3.1 FG 44% 3P 39% free agent FREE FREE
Mr. KUPCHAK PLEASE BRING HIM TO LA his salary last year 1 227 185 $
well it too late now he resign with the pacers. lakers have a guy in brown who they sign from the d league. he was pretty decent for the lakers last season. so if he can keep it up he could be a decent bench piece for the lakers at a very cheap price
I also like Anthony Brown, who they drafted at 34. It would have been interesting to see them take RJ Hunter over Larry Nance at 27. Even then, they still came away with a strong draft, and as I’ve said, I personally expect Robert Upshaw to provide great value
if the lakers team stays pretty much where it at. the lakers will be a very young team with only 2 guys young and kobe 30 or older.ill take that at this point then throwing together a team with decent vets kind of like they did last season
Hey LA Louis coming to LA year a a a a a a . Now we are strong . Let get to the finals