Los Angeles Lakers: Predicting where each Lakers free agent signs
By Jason Reed
Wesley Matthews: Los Angeles Lakers
Wesley Matthews is slowly seeing his role in the NBA shrink and shrink. He has played for three different teams in three seasons and has seen his minutes dip each year. He averaged 30.3 minutes per game, then 24.4, then 19.5. It is clear he is entering the latter stages of his career.
Matthews was not as good as the Lakers were hoping last season. While he was serviceable defensively, he was extremely unreliable from beyond the arc, shooting just 33.5%. When that is half of what you are supposed to do for a team it is a problem.
The Lakers can and should upgrade from Matthews. There should be another wing brought in that plays the 20 minutes per game that Matthews did. However, for the sake of roster turnover, I would not mind seeing the Lakers bring him back on a minimum deal to be the ninth guy in the rotation and play 15 minutes a night.
There are certainly worse options out there and there is still potential for Matthews to be good. He is not going to have much of a market in free agency this offseason so it is not like he is going to get wowed by some offer.
At this point in his career, Matthews likely wants to settle down in one place and where better to do that than Los Angeles? The Lakers bring him back on a one-year minimum deal.