1. Wayne Ellington, member of the Los Angeles Lakers from 2014-2015
Wayne Ellington was a prime trade candidate last season and the Detroit Pistons did not wind up moving him at all. We here at Lake Show Life thought Ellington would have been a nice addition for the Lakers at the deadline but nothing came to fruition and now the Lakers could sign him back in LA.
The hope with Ellington is that he would be willing to take a veteran minimum contract and at this point in his career, I would be surprised if he got much more than that. Ellington is entering his age 34 season and no team is going to be willing to lock him down for multiple years with the risk of regression.
That, of course, is a risk that the Lakers would be taking but on a one-year deal with such a small salary it is a risk worth taking. Ellington can add a three-point dynamic to the Lakers’ offense, which was something that the team desperately needed this past season.
The Lakers simply did not have enough shooting around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The team got away with this when LeBron and AD would dominate but they would need both guys on top of their game. LeBron did not have that Kyle Korver/Ray Allen outlet pass that helps space the floor and take some of the scoring workload off.
Ellington is a really good three-point shooter. He shot 42.2% from beyond the arc last season with a career three-point percentage above 38%. He is not a great defender but there is nothing wrong with adding as many shooters as you can.