Over a full month after drafting the small forward out of Duke, the Los Angeles Lakers have still yet to officially sign Brandon Ingram‘s rookie contract
According to Bobby Marks of The Vertical, three players selected in last month’s drafts remain to be signed, including the Lakers’ own second overall pick, Brandon Ingram.
The other two include Milwaukee Bucks’ tenth pick, Thon Maker and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s eleventh pick, Domantas Sabonis, son of former NBA player, Arvydas Sabonis.
Still 3 rookie scale contracts (not players stashed) unsigned; Brandon Ingram (LAL), Thon Maker (MIL) and Domantas Sabonis (OKC).
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 29, 2016
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Darius Soriano of Forum Blue and Gold, recently posted an article about what this could mean on the conspiracy front, specifically involving the Russell Westbrook to LA rumors, seeing that two of the teams with unsigned players are the Lakers and the Thunder.
Per Soriano, by having these players “remaining unsigned, could also be included in any trade without having to deal with the 30 day rule.” His article comes with the disclaimer that he doesn’t in fact believe any of the trade conspiracies, and that he’s instead just letting his conspirator mind run a little bit free, because, well, it’s definitely fun to do this from time to time.
As mentioned previously by Eric Pincus on Basketball Insiders, similar to why the Lakers have so far held off on signing Marcelo Huertas and Tarik Black, it appears that the team is trying to keep their options open for as long as possible, hoping to hold out for another Jose Calderon salary dump type deal.
Earlier, we laid out three players that the Lakers could trade for to do exactly that, which is ironic considering the Lakers have a player just like that who they would love to get rid of in Nick Young.
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Honestly, it seems like nothing to worry about, as the news surrounding the Lakers’ free agency front has been extremely quiet, so we fully anticipate Ingram signing his contract in the coming weeks.