While the Lakers are out of the playoff picture, and LeBron James will not play again this season, several players on the roster have incentive to finish the year strong. As Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times writes, JaVale McGee, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and Mike Muscala are set for unrestricted free agency this summer.
Without the postseason as a motivating factor, the next pay check for those players is a strong consideration. Head coach Luke Walton commended those players’ efforts to close out the season.
“I think they’ve done a nice job of staying focused on the team. And that is a big thing, a real thing,” Walton said. “Guys should be concerned about their futures. You have to take care of that as players. But when you take care of your team and play with that type of attitude, the other teams in the league see that. That’s what they want.”
Particularly, Walton praised McGee, stating that the NBA champion “looks good right now,” and adding that his contributions recently have been “meaningful numbers.”
Check out more Pacific Division notes:
- Mark Heisler of the Orange County Register opines that the Lakers‘ front office needs to be cognizant of its missteps this past season. Unable to pair James with another elite talent, this summer will be another chance to do so and the team will need to be smart with its approach.
- As the Clippers prepare for the postseason, the team hopes to get Patrick Beverley back on the court and healthy, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times writes. “So, it’s an injury of concern, but nothing that I think is that serious,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “He will play in the playoffs. I’ll say that.”
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Willie Cauley-Stein is set for restricted free agency this summer and the Kings will need to decide whether or not to retain his services. Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee examines Cauley-Stein’s value and why Sacramento will face a tough decision.
- Matt John of Basketball Insiders looks at how the Suns can accelerate their rebuild. Phoenix has a solid star piece in Devin Booker but will need to maximize acquisitions via free agency and the draft.
Laker fans should be worried about who will end of signing with them. More likely it will be a FA that is over paid and not at top of the market. My guess is Jimmy Butler. The whole management team is terrible so why would any top of the line FA want to sign there?
Butler IS a top FA! He might be overpaid at the veteran’s max, but LAL has been planning for a 2nd star. Breaking your plan is risky (arguably, like Zubac for Muscala). Most good FAs are bigs.
Suns still stink, booker isnt that good tbh he plays on a bad team and theres a reason he hasnt much success as far as winning goes. Horrible defender high volume shooter, theres a reason no pgs fit well next to him.
You definitely haven’t seen him play this year troll
High volume shooter at 47% with averages of 27-4-7. Facing constant double teams with the only other two nba scorers on your team are Ayton (a rookie) and Warren (always injured).
They need to bring back the vets, keep Caruso on the roster, add another big name and keep Mr. Walton on board…if everyone can stay relatively healthy next season that would put them in the top half of the playoff picture IMO
And by add another big name I don’t mean trade the entire core of young players for AD…worse comes to worse just wait for AD to hit FA after next season
Everybody is overpaid these days. The franchise is under such a microscope there will always be haters on every move made by whoever is GM. They literally cannot win. They need to do whatever they can to get Jerry West back.
Who in their right mind would want to go to the LA circus…..Walton stays…..Magic and the GM go as starters…….
As a Lakers fan, for over 30 years, I’m not panicking like some are and it’s fine if people who aren’t Lakers fans want to hate because every team goes through rough patches, some last longer than others! But I do see that this is going to come to an end. People are hating on Magic but honestly he hasn’t done a bad job at all, he’s had to clean up a lot and try to crest cap space and that’s what he’s done and he’s actually done a good job at it by getting rid of contracts nobody thought he could like Mozgov and Deng. This year after getting LeBron he just tried to add some guys to fill spots until next year which I totally get so my expectations weren’t high and if it weren’t for so many injuries they actually would’ve been a playoff team but that’s life, just gotta move on to next season. The thing I think that got everyone so pumped was that magic was acting like this was the team and it was going to compete instead of keeping expectations a little more realistic. You can’t expect much out of a revolving door of players on one year deals plus throw in a bunch of injuries and expect that team to succeed, it won’t happen. I think after this offseason when they are done with free agency, the draft and trades and the team is most likely set for a couple years then you’ll see a lot more out of the team with chemistry and stuff like that. But it takes time, people just love to complain and point out flaws and talk crap so let them. Lakers are and always will be one of the most winningest franchises in the NBA.
Exactly people try and read too much into the Lakers. Its simple add a 2nd star and contend for a title. If not your ceiling is a 2nd round exit. They have plenty of cap room and now its just about going out and finding the other star
I agree with everything that you just said.
I’m A Laker Fan For Life!!!!
As far as I’m concerned…
This is a make or break summer for Jeannie.
This franchise needs success in a developing summer.
Otherwise we will skid on rocks for a few years developing draft picks