Most of the roster from last year’s Los Angeles Lakers team is still available on the free-agent market as late as August. That is a telling sign of just how bad the roster was last season and how the rest of the league views those players.
The only player that finished the team with the Lakers last season and has gotten a new deal is Malik Monk. DeAndre Jordan has somehow also gotten a contract from an NBA team. Aside from that, any free agent from last year’s team is still without a job.
While it is looking bleak right now, some of those free agents should at least find a team before the 2022-23 season starts.
Here are the 3 Lakers free agents who should get signed before the 2022-23 season:
1. Carmelo Anthony
There is speculation around the Los Angels Lakers potentially re-signing Carmelo Anthony, so who knows, perhaps he comes back to LA for one more season. Carmelo still has value as an NBA rotation player as he has taken on a lesser role as an off-ball shooter gracefully.
He showed several times last season that he can still have big nights where vintage Melo comes out to play and that is valuable to any NBA team. He is not someone who is drastically going to move the needle but as regular-season depth, Melo is a good option.
That being said, personally, I would rather see the Lakers use the roster spot either on a young player like Cole Swider or on another three-point shooter that can come via trade (such as Buddy Hield or Joe Harris with Kyrie Irving).
Carmelo still deserves some kind of role before the 2022-23 season, though.