The Los Angeles Lakers signed four players on the first day of NBA free agency, all of which had a former stint with the team at one time or another. The Lakers signed Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore, Trevor Ariza and Wayne Ellington.
All four were minimum signings but that was expected. The Russell Westbrook trade did not leave the Lakers with much money to spend, limiting the team to minimum options (or bringing back players with Bird Rights, like Alex Caruso, which they did not do).
The depth is going to have to hold up next season for the Lakers to reach their title aspirations and each of these four signings will impact the team in different ways.
Ranking the Los Angeles Lakers’ day one signings by potential impact:
4. Kent Bazemore
While Kent Bazemore’s numbers on the surface were solid last season, he is the worst player that the Lakers brought in on day one and he is probably going to have the smallest impact. Sure, he shot the three-point shot well, but he did so while benefitting from the Warriors’ floor spacing and was not taking them at a high rate.
Bazemore shot 40.8% on 2.7 three-point shots per game. That is great and if he can give the Lakers that in the regular season then the team would be happy. I am not sure that one made three-pointer a game is all that impactful, though.
He is a slightly above average defensive player at this stage of his career but cannot be out there that long guarding the best players the other team has. Realistically, he is going to play 17-20 minutes on the Lakers and will play serviceable defense but is not a candidate to be in the crunch time lineup.