Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers front office made a number of moves at this year’s trade deadline. The team brought in D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Mo Bamba and Davon Reed in separate deals, in addition to trading for Rui Hachimura a couple of weeks earlier.
After everything was said and done, the Lakers have 14 players on the roster, leaving themselves one open spot if they wanted to sign someone in the buyout market. This is a route Pelinka and the front office has taken before, most notably during the 2020 season with Markieff Morris providing some big minutes during their run to the championship.
With the available spot, the possibility is there for the Lakers to make an addition, and Pelinka says that the front office will look into it if they see the ability to fill a need. He didn’t necessarily say it’s a certainty though, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
“If we see the right opportunity to fill a need in the buyout market, we will take a look at that,” Pelinka said. “But I don’t want to definitively say that we’ll sign another player. We feel like these 14 players fill a need that Darvin was looking to fill, and he was excited about these 26 games we have to coach these 14 guys.”
The question seems to be whether or not a player who could bring something to the table that the Lakers don’t have on the roster will become available. Furthermore, there is also the matter of whether the Lakers will be able to sign that player as competition will be tough and players tend to favor teams higher in the standings.
But as Pelinka noted, they aren’t necessarily relying on the buyout market for an addition as they have been in previous seasons. With so many new players already on the roster, head coach Darvin Ham will already have his hands full figuring out how to best integrate everyone and finding the right lineups and rotations.
But if the right player is there, and he can make a real difference for this Lakers team as they continue to try and push for the playoffs, Pelinka will undoubtedly push to bring him in.
Rob Pelinka believes Lakers’ additions provide ‘optionality’ this offseason
In addition to what these players can bring to the Lakers on the court and how they fit next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Pelinka also made note of their contract situations as reasons for bringing them in as well.
Pelinka noted that a couple of the team’s new additions have team options on their contracts for next season, giving the Lakers the opportunity to evaluate them for the remainder of this season. Beasley has a team option for $16.5 million next year, while Bamba’s contract is non-guaranteed and the Lakers will have until June 29 to make a decision on whether to guarantee his $10.3 million salary.
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