Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles offered big one-year deal to Dion Waiters

Recent Lakers rumors were about their interest in guard Dion Waiters. Did the Lakers end up making him an offer?

With the offseason underway, there have been plenty of Lakers rumors since before the NBA Draft.

Recently, the Los Angeles Lakers expressed an interest in guard Dion Waiters. This offseason, the Lakers made it very clear what their plan was going to be this offseason. With a great free agency class coming up next season, the Lakers have done a very nice job to clear cap space for next offseason.

With this being the plan, the Lakers have not been offering players more than a one-year deal. In addition to the interest in Waiters, the Lakers also tried to sign George Hill to a one-year deal. Hill ended up signing a three-year deal, as the one-year deal didn’t seem realistic. With Waiters, the Lakers attempted to get him to sign a one-year deal as well.

According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Lakers came in with a big offer for the one-year deal.

"Waiters also received interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls.The Lakers made a one-year, $17 million dollar offer to Waiters, a league source told Basketball Insiders. New York and Chicago verbally expressed interest, but neither team made an offer."

With the plan being to keep space for next season, this was certainly a good offer by the Lakers’ front office. Waiters was coming off a career-year, and an organization always has to be careful when investing long-term in a player in that situation.

Waiters likely made the wise decision for himself both financially and as a player. After bouncing after for the first few seasons of his career, Waiters certainly found a good home with the Miami Heat. Add in the nice contract that they offered him, staying with the team that he just had a career-year with makes a lot of sense for Waiters.

Next: Breaking down the Lakers Summer League roster

For the Lakers, they will continue to scan free agency for guards. After seeing the offer made for Waiters, it is clear that the Lakers are committed to just offering the one-year deals to players. With an eye on next offseason, the Lakers won’t go away from their plan.