At the NBA trade deadline on March 15, the Los Angeles Lakers were as active as any team in the league with the goal of improving the squad while saving money to avoid a huge luxury tax. As a result, the Lakers traded away Derek Fisher, Luke Walton and Jason Kapono in exchange for Ramon Sessions, Christian Eyenga and Jordan Hill.
Along with getting younger, faster and saving a lot of money in the process, the Lakers may have also helped secure the future of the franchise. Sessions and Hill are by no means superstars or even All-Stars at this point in their careers, but the addition of these two players were a step in the right direction and so far considered brilliant moves by Kupchak.
Once the season is officially over for the Lakers, the fate of these two up-and-comers will be determined with the Lakers’ front office having some tough decisions to make. Hill’s contract will expire and Sessions will most likely terminate his contract in search of a long-term deal with the Lakers or with another team.
The consensus has been that the Lakers will attempt to re-sign Sessions to a long-term deal to keep the point guard position secure with a promising young player. Hill on the other hand was thought to be simply not re-signed and let go before breaking out in the final weeks of the regular season and performing well in the playoffs.
Now the tables have turned somewhat as it appears that Hill will be re-signed and Sessions might explore other options via free agency. There’s no question that if Sessions became a free agent that he’d get some interest around the league, but he has expressed interest in staying in L.A. as long as the two sides can come to terms on a contract that works for both sides.
According to the L.A. Daily News, Sessions will most likely weigh his option come July 1:
“It’s something I’ll deal with,” Sessions said
“… It’s definitely something that’s not in the back of my mind right now because I’m trying to focus on the playoffs. It’s not even a concern. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know it’s coming.”
Obviously, anything can happen once July 1 rolls around. The future of these two promising young players will be up in the air until moves can officially be made, but it would be in the Lakers’ best interests to try and re-sign both Hill and Sessions unless there are better options available like Deron Williams of the Brooklyn Nets.
