The Los Angeles Lakers were put in a precarious position when big man Mo Bamba suffered an ankle injury earlier this month.
The high left ankle sprain by Bamba has him sidelined for at least four weeks and set to be reevaluated in the first week of April. Bamba’s injury thinned out the Lakers’ front court, leaving Anthony Davis and Wenyen Gabriel as the only available big men.
A week prior to Bamba’s injury, the Lakers allowed South Bay center Jay Huff to sign with the Washington Wizards. Huff would have been an easy choice for a replacement because of his familiarity with the Lakers and skill set.
His departure left the Lakers to scour the buyout market, working out big men such as Tristan Thompson, Tony Bradley, Demarcus Cousins and Meyers Leonard. Though none of these players ended up signing a deal with the Lakers, Leonard was reportedly the closest one, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
The Lakers had an interest in signing Meyers Leonard, whom they worked out on Jan 13., before he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for the rest of the season, according to league sources who were not authorized to speak on potential signings.
Leonard has appeared in six games for the Milwaukee Bucks, reaching double-digit points once. He’s averaging just 8.5 minutes per game but likely would have slotted in as an emergency backup to Davis.
It’s unclear whether or not the Lakers will sign a backup big man before the season ends. Darvin Ham indicated ‘nothing is imminent’ regarding Thompson and Bradley and they were doing their ‘due diligence’ with the evaluation of big men.
Even though the front office hasn’t signed a backup, they may not need to. Gabriel has emerged into a ball of energy and hustle off the bench. He’s played double-digit minutes in each game since Bamba’s injury and had consecutive games with over 10 rebounds. However, depending on the matchup in the playoffs, having Gabriel as an undersized backup could hurt the Lakers.
L.A. still has time to make a move on the buyout market.
Anthony Davis likes the Lakers’ chances against anybody
The moves at the trade deadline changed the outlook of the season for the Lakers. The addition of shooting, defense and effective playmaking has allowed L.A. to steadily climb up the standings.
For Davis, the new Lakers are a team that reminds him of the 2020 championship-winning squad, making him confident they can take on anyone.
“If we actually have a full summer, full training camp, go through an entire season, who knows the position we’ll be in,” Davis said. ” … The team we have now, we feel like not only can we make noise this year, and I like our chance against anybody to be honest. You put anybody against us, I like our chances. … Who knows what we could be, what threat we could be next year and then years to come if they work it out and are able to keep this group together.”
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