Los Angeles Lakers: 5 free agents to sign on a veteran’s minimum deal
By Jason Reed
There are going to be a lot of moving parts on the Los Angeles Lakers as the front office looks to navigate this offseason full of uncertainty while also trying to improve the team that was just eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
The Lakers are going to have to take advantage of several different salary-cap tricks in order to field an entire roster that remains competitive. We already broke down the players the Lakers could look to target with the mid-level exception, today, we break down the veterans who could get a minimum deal in LA.
The veteran’s minimum deal can be signed even if the team is over the salary cap and is reserved for, you guessed it, league veterans. While the pay is small and the players are older, there is still value in a veteran’s minimum deal, oftentimes more than teams realize.
Just look at Dwight Howard. He was brought in on a minimum deal as a backup plan and he wound up being extremely productive for the Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to get that productivity from this year’s veteran minimum signings.
How many veterans the Lakers sign will depend on how many roster spots they fill and how comfortable they feel at each position. Before free agency officially begins, there are five players that are worth targeting on a minimum deal, all for various reasons.
The Lakers won’t sign all five of these players but it would be shocking if they did not land at least one, maybe two. Here are the five veterans that the Lakers should target with a minimum contract this offseason.