As the Los Angeles Lakers mulled over their options for their backup point guard position, one of the names mentioned was Ian Clark, who spent the last two seasons with the Golden State Warriors, even winning a championship last season.
The Lakers were known to be interested in Clark and even met with him last week, but the team ultimately decided to bring back Tyler Ennis, on a two-year minimum contract.
With Ennis now officially back on the roster, Clark is reportedly no longer in the mix for the Lakers according to Tania Ganguli of the L.A. Times:
Unless something changes, Ian Clark is not in the mix for the Lakers anymore, a source said. It's unlikely that changes.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 25, 2017
With his ability to shoot the ball, defend well, and play both backcourt positions as well as a familiarity with Luke Walton from their time in Golden State, Clark would have made a lot of sense for the Lakers. However, Ennis’ strong play down the stretch earned him his spot and it gives the Lakers some continuity on a team that has undergone a lot of change this summer.
After retaining Ennis the Lakers find their backcourt relatively set. Along with Ennis the Lakers have Lonzo Ball, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jordan Clarkson, and rookie Josh Hart all looking for minutes at the guard spot making it difficult to see where Clark would fit.
There is no doubt that Clark will land somewhere as he played well with the Warriors last season. The Lakers simply made a choice to keep who they already knew well and with a full guard rotation there just isn’t any room for him. Now the Lakers will move forward and get ready for training camp.