Los Angeles Lakers should not pursue Dion Waiters in free agency

The Los Angeles Lakers have recently been linked to free agent Dion Waiters. Should they pursue him in free agency this offseason?

There has been a lot of debate and discussion to who the Los Angeles Lakers will pursue in free agency this offseason. With the NBA Draft a few weeks away, we should begin to get a better idea of what the Lakers’ plan for free agency could be.

Even though free agency is about a month away, Dion Waiters has been linked to the Lakers early on in the offseason. The link between Waiters and the Lakers is a rather easy one to see, as his former agent is now the general manager of Los Angeles.

According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the Lakers might make an offer to Waiters.

"Though there had been some concern that Dion Waiters’ former agent, new Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, might make a big offer for Waiters this summer, Lakers executive Magic Johnson – whose team has $23 million in cap space – told reporters: “I’m really looking to keep the cap space that we have and really try to play in next year’s free agent class, and not really this free agent class.”"

Despite being the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Waiters has bounced around a bit. After just a few seasons in Cleveland, Waiters was then traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Last offseason, Waiters signed with the Miami Heat, and arguably had the best season of his career.

In Miami last year, Waiters averaged 15.8 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game. Waiters set both career-highs in assists and rebounds per game, as he became a more complete player in Miami. Also, he shot the ball much better from the field than in previous years.

Waiters was credited with helping the Miami Heat turn their season around after an awful start. The Heat did fall short of reaching the postseason, but they were definitely a better team when Waiters became more involved.

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While Waiters is still young, teams have to be wary about a player coming off a career-year. There is a reason why Waiters has played on three teams in five seasons, and the Lakers should be careful. Due to Waiters being expected to land a large deal in free agency, the Lakers would be wise to hold off on investing heavily in him this offseason.