The Los Angeles Lakers are definitely going to be in the market for any player that hits the buyout market during the season. Even if the team can pull off a Russell Westbrook trade before the season begins, LA is going to need any kind of reinforcements that they can get.
The buyout market this season is interesting as there are not many players who are playing on massive expiring one-year deals and if they are, they are worth keeping for the team.
That being said, there are still some players that the Lakers can potentially bring in if they are bought out during the early portion of the 2022-23 season. There are some names to keep an eye on with their respective teams.
Here are three potential early-season buyout candidates for the Los Angeles Lakers:
1. Patrick Beverley
- Salary: $13,000,000
Patrick Beverley was traded to the Utah Jazz in the Rudy Gobert trade and it would be shocking if he spent the entire year in Utah. The Los Angeles Lakers have already shown reported interest in Beverley, although they do not want to trade Talen Horton-Tucker for him.
The only way the Lakers could trade for Beverley is if they traded THT straight up for him. Beverley cannot be part of a bigger package, like a Donovan Mitchell trade, because Utah just acquired him via trade. He can only be traded by himself, not with other players.
That is going to make it harder to deal Beverley, who might not have that big of a market anyway. His contract is an interesting figure and not many teams have a young player like THT that has a similar contract that is also tradeable.
If no deals are on the table, it would not be crazy in the slightest if Utah simply buys Beverley out to save some money next season. After all, they are more concerned with tanking next season.