3. Will Barton
- Salary: $15,000,000
Will Barton was traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Washington Wizards this offseason in a deal for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Despite having decent numbers, the Nuggets obviously valued what KCP brought to the table more than Barton, swapping the guard alongside Monte Morris for Ish Smith.
Barton is now a nice tradeable contract for the Washington Wizards if they did want to package him with someone to make some kind of splash. This at least gives the Wizards the hope that they can trade for Kevin Durant or Donovan Mitchell.
When the 2022-23 season starts and the Wizards have not made that trade it would not be surprising for the small-market team to save some money and get the younger players more playing time by buying out Barton.
Barton is an experienced two-guard that would give the Lakers some solid depth in the backcourt. The former-second round pick is a decent shooter and can hold his own defensively as well. As ironic as it is, Barton is essentially a slightly worse version of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Lakers’ current projected closing lineup is sickening
The Los Angeles Lakers are not a good enough team to compete for a title next season and that is apparent from the team's projected closing lineup.
Los Angeles needs shooting so while Barton is not a deadeye by any means, his 37.2% rate from beyond the arc over the last three years would be a solid addition. In fact, it would make him the best shooter on the team, especially considering he’s taken 5.9 threes per game in that time frame.