January 5 is the first official day that NBA teams can sign players to 10-day contracts and the Los Angeles Lakers should take full advantage of that. Los Angeles has an open roster spot to use and can benefit from getting some rotation help, even if it is temporary.
Yesterday we broke down three sharpshooters the Lakers could essentially give an audition to with a 10-day contract. If any of those players were to be signed and catch fire, they could become long-term members of the rotation.
Los Angeles could go another route, though. With Anthony Davis still nursing a foot injury, the team could utilize a 10-day contract to add some much-needed size to the rotation. After all, this team desperately lacks size and Damian Jones just doesn’t cut it as the backup big.
3 bigs the Lakers could sign with a 10-day contract while Anthony Davis is out:
1. DeMarcus Cousins
DeMarcus Cousins never got a chance to show what he had for the Los Angeles Lakers. Cousins signed with the Lakers shortly before the 2019-20 season and tore his ACL while training, forcing the Lakers to pivot and sign Dwight Howard instead.
Cousins’ career path has been a sad one as he was on his way to a big payday and injuries caught up to him too soon. He has had some brief moments of looking really good again but he has transitioned into an NBA journeyman who is just trying to get his chances where he can.
After a short stint with the Milwaukee Bucks, Cousins signed three consecutive 10-day contracts with the Denver Nuggets last season and eventually was given a standard NBA contract. While he was far from perfect, he was a serviceable depth big and you would have thought that he would’ve earned a new contract from someone over the summer.
Los Angeles could bet on the pedigree of Cousins and hope that Cousins’ three-point shot could turn a corner with two good passers in LeBron James and Russell Westbrook dishing him the ball. Even if it doesn’t, he will be more impactful than Jones.
2. Hassan Whiteside
Hassan Whiteside is another player that probably should be on an NBA team right now but ultimately had no suitors in free agency over the summer. It is unclear how someone like DeAndre Jordan landed a rotation role in the league this season while Whiteside has been waiting at home for his chance.
Heck, you could make the case that Whiteside should have been a Laker. There was a conscious effort by the team to get younger in free agency and that is part of the reason why Damian Jones got the nod. But at the center position, it doesn’t really matter and the team would have been better off with a true rim-protecting big like Whiteside.
Whiteside’s game is not complicated and he would not open things up for the Lakers to be a different basketball team. He is a traditional rebounding and shot-blocking big who will live near the glass and make things happen.
And that is just fine! Los Angeles could really use the shot-blocking that Whiteside would provide while Davis is out. We have also seen firsthand with JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard that having this kind of center next to Davis can work in smaller stretches as well.
It isn’t like Whiteside put up completely terrible numbers last season, either. In 17.9 minutes per game backing up Rudy Gobert, Whiteside averaged 8.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
3. Tristan Thompson
Tristan Thompson would essentially give the Los Angeles Lakers the same thing that Hassan Whiteside would. Thompson would add a rebounding and shot-blocking presence down low that can eat some of the minutes in the rotation.
That being said, Thompson would essentially be a worse version of Whiteside for this team. While he does the same thing, he does not do it nearly as well at this point in his career. With three teams last year, Thompson averaged 6.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.4 blocks in 15.7 minutes per game.
He might not be as impressive as Whiteside but he is still an option. But why would the Lakers sign someone like Thompson over Whiteside if both are available? Simple. Thompson is a former teammate of LeBron James and is still a Klutch Sports client.
The Lakers have already proven to us with this roster that they will do Klutch a favor and sign their guys. That is why the trio of Juan Toscano-Anderson, Troy Brown Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV were the first signings the Lakers made last summer.
The difference between Whiteside and Thompson is not going to make or break the team’s season so Rob Pelinka might be willing to do Klutch a favor for their guy to get him back in the league while also adding depth in the process.
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