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3 veteran free agents the Los Angeles Lakers should regret not signing

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 19: Nemanja Bjelica #8 of the Golden State Warriors competes for a rebound against Rajon Rondo #4 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half at Staples Center on October 19, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 19: Nemanja Bjelica #8 of the Golden State Warriors competes for a rebound against Rajon Rondo #4 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half at Staples Center on October 19, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Michael Urakami/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Michael Urakami/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

2. Otto Porter

This is the second Golden State Warriors signing on this list as the Warriors brought in Otto Porter on a minimum contract in the offseason. Porter was another player that I personally wanted to see the Lakers bring in as he was a perfect cheap value signing to add shooting and decent defense.

Porter became extremely underrated in the NBA because his contract was so terrible. We saw the same thing with Nicolas Batum on the Los Angeles Clippers. Batum was the most overpaid player in the league in Charlotte and many took the fact that he was overpaid and undervalued him as a player. Batum showed in LA that he is still a great role player.

The same could be said about Otto Porter, who is still young and has a lot of potential to be an impact role player. Porter isn’t playing a huge number of minutes with the Warriors this season but he has been great in the minutes that he has played.

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Porter is averaging 6.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals in only 16.8 minutes per game. Porter too has been red-hot from beyond the arc, shooting 43.6% from beyond the arc.

Some might think that this is just the Warriors bump for both Porter and Bjelica but both players were great three-point shooters before joining Golden State. They both were just in terrible situations and playing on a good team can re-ignite someone. That was the entire reason to bring them in.

Porter has been solid defensively as well. Porter ranks 27th in the league (min. 200 minutes) in NBA Math’s Defensive Points Saved metric. While 27th might not sound all that impressive, there are 221 players who have played 200 minutes this season. That puts him in the 87th percentile while also being higher than any Laker.

Sounds pretty great for a role player.

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