The Los Angeles Lakers have separated themselves from their arena mates, the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been quite active thus far in the NBA offseason. Rob Pelinka’s first order of business was to trade Danny Green and the 28th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft for a versatile point guard, Dennis Schroder.
After not making any selections in the 2020 NBA Draft, the Lakers turned to free agency to fill some of the holes on the roster. Los Angeles signed Wesley Matthews to a one-year, $3.6 million deal while also landing Sixth Man of the Year, Montrezl Harrell, with the mid-level exception.
More promising news broke on Saturday as the Lakers re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three-year, $40 million contract.
The Lakers have been fantastic this offseason and have separated themselves from the biggest competitor next season in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Clippers. In fact, the Harrell signing just showcased how sometimes the rich get richer in the NBA.
We talked about the Lakers’ actions in the offseason as well as the contrasting offseason thus far for the Los Angeles Clippers in the latest episode of the Lake Show Life Podcast.
Most notably, the move that made the least amount of sense for the Clippers was signing Marcus Morris to a four-year, $64 million contract. I get that the Clippers wanted to retain the Morris twin but that is a massive overpay.
If the Lakers are overspending for KCP at $40 million, which has been said, then the Clippers are spending the entire bank account on Morris. Wings are valuable in the league, sure, but is Marcus really that much better than his twin brother, Markieff, who will probably make just over the league minimum?
The answer is no. Morris is solid, but he has swindled his way into $64 million. Good for him.
On top of the Lakers-Clippers contrasting offseasons, we also talk about the rest of the crazy NBA offseason. Daniel really likes the Atlanta Hawks after the moves they have made, which includes signing now-former-Laker, Rajon Rondo.
We also discuss (and joke about) the offseason that the Charlotte Hornets have had. Former Laker general manager Mitch Kupchak, who orchestrated the awful Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov deals, was at it again as he paid Gordon Hayward a cool $120 million.
We also discuss the Klay Thompson news and talk about just how good the Golden State Warriors can be without him with Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. this season.