2. Kendrick Nunn
Malik Monk ended up being the best signing that the Los Angeles Lakers made last offseason but before the season started, everyone thought it was going to be Kendrick Nunn. Los Angeles snagged the promising young guard for a huge discount, signing him to the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception.
Nunn was expected to get more than that and instead he signed with the big-market Lakers to prove his value and potentially earn an even bigger contract this summer. However, Nunn did not end up playing a single minute, so the second-year player option on his contract came in handy.
Nunn is now completely healthy and ready to remind everyone about all the potential that he has as a scoring point guard in this league. While he did teeter off in the playoffs, let’s not forget just how good Nunn was in his rookie season for the Miami Heat before the COVID-19 pause.
There are a lot of guards on the Lakers roster and it will be interesting to see how Los Angeles is going to utilize Nunn with his defensive ability and size. There are very few questions to his scoring ability, though, and as long as the team does not get in his way he should be able to thrive.
If all goes as planned, casual NBA fans should be looking around and asking why they forgot how dynamic Nunn can be as a scoring guard off the bench.