1. Isaiah Hartenstein
The first player that Buckley mentions as a sleeper target for the Lakers is Isaiah Hartenstein. Hartenstein has played four years in the NBA and has played for four different teams with the Los Angeles Clippers being his latest stop. The Clippers, by far, gave him his biggest role in the rotation and Hartenstein started to show his value as a rotational big as a result.
The former 43rd-overall pick averaged 17.7 minutes per game with the Clippers last season. In those 17.7 minutes, Hartenstein scored 8.3 points with 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.
Hartenstein is a young, athletic big that has not even hit his ceiling as an NBA player yet. While he is not going to be an all-star caliber player, there is no reason to believe that he won’t continue improving as a professional, especially if he was playing alongside someone like LeBron James.
However, there is an issue that comes with that. While Hartenstein is not going to get a big deal, his age is on his side and that makes it more likely that a team (likely the Clippers) will pay him more than the minimum.
The Lakers cannot afford to pay Hartenstein above the minimum as the only contract they can give out is the Taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception and Hartenstein simply would not be worth it. There are so many bigs on the market this offseason that can be signed for the minimum. Signing Hartenstein for the MLE would be silly.
Verdict: Pass (Likely too expensive)