Los Angeles Lakers: 4 free agents to sign away from other contenders

2. Nicolas Batum

Nicolas Batum is someone who I would really like to see on the Los Angeles Lakers. It made sense for the Lakers to take a flier on him when he was bought out by the Charlotte Hornets but they ultimately didn’t as he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Batum was expectedly solid for the Clippers. He definitely did not play up to his former contract, which was the reason why he was so underrated in the first place, but he was solid and showed the same positive signs that were there early in his career.

More importantly, Batum gave the Clippers a ton of flexibility that they were able to use in the playoffs. While he cannot do it against the best fives in the league, Batum is a solid small-ball five option that can help space the floor and create a matchup headache for someone who needs to be near the rim, such as Rudy Gobert.

Batum can realistically play four different positions and with the versatility of both LeBron James and Anthony Davis, there is a lot of fun things the Lakers could do with Batum off the bench.

He did not play well enough to make himself anything more than a veteran minimum option but that does not mean he wouldn’t be a solid addition. He would essentially replace Markieff Morris in the rotation, and as much as I love Morris, would probably be better in that role.