The Los Angeles Lakers save the 15h roster spot for a buyout signing
The Los Angeles Lakers should hold onto the 15th roster spot for the eventual buyout market that they are going to be a frontrunner in. There is no point in signing someone now to a non-guaranteed contract only with the idea of eventually releasing them.
Yes, they have done it in the past with the likes of Quinn Cook, but the Lakers already released Alfonzo McKinnie. If they were interested in doing that they probably would have just kept McKinnie, who was with the team last season, in house.
The best-case buyout would probably be Kevin Love. It would be yet another big but he would be someone that could really fit in as the third big on this team coming off the bench. He can not only play the five but allow Anthony Davis to play the five as well. They would be interchangeable with each other.
He is not prime Kevin Love but he can still get buckets, space the floor and attack the glass. He is a valuable player, he just is not that valuable as the third-best player on a title-contending team anymore.
The market behind Love is bleak but there are always some surprises as well as some unexpected needs that arise during the season. Before last season it would have sounded crazy to say that the Lakers desperately needed to bring in Andre Drummond.
The difference between 14 and 15 roster spots really is not much at the beginning of the season and the Lakers should keep themselves flexible instead.