NBA rumors: Lakers fans should hope this potential target gets bought out
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers were able to get younger and add talent at the trade deadline for a great price. This new-look Lakers roster will allow the team to be more competitive this season while giving LA more flexibility in the upcoming offseason.
The roster still has room to grow after the deadline, though. There are currently 14 players rostered on the Lakers, leaving room for one potential buyout signing without having to make any additional room.
There are some options to explore that have already been bought out or are in the process of being bought out by their respective teams. Los Angeles certainly should have a wish list of players it hopes to get bought out in the coming days, including a dream target that would be phenomenal.
Lakers fans should hope that Gary Harris gets bought out by the Orlando Magic.
All of the buyout talk around the Orlando Magic has been centered around Patrick Beverley, who was traded alongside a second-round pick for Mo Bamba. There has even been some speculation about the team buying out or waiving R.J. Hampton as he is not traveling with the team.
The dream candidate for Lakers fans would be Harris, who surprisingly was not traded at the deadline. Harris is essentially on an expiring contract as his salary for the 2023-24 season is non-guaranteed. That being said, $13 million is a lot for another team to trade for.
Orlando is very obviously in a situation where tanking is better than winning games as they should be more focused on getting their young players playing time down the stretch. That makes someone like Harris a potential candidate to be bought out now that he was not traded.
Harris would be extremely exciting as a rotational player off the bench for the Lake Show. While he would add to the guard logjam on the team, he would also provide another shooting option, which is always a good thing. I’d rather have too many guards that can shoot versus sign a wing that can’t shoot just to fill a positional need.
The 28-year-old is shooting 45.7% from three in four attempts per game. He is also shooting 88.5% from the free-throw line. Harris would instantly boost too big areas of need for the purple and gold.
Harris is a serviceable defender as well. While his size will limit what he can do on the perimeter, he is someone who could hold his own and actually makes sense as a two-guard next to someone like D’Angelo Russell. Having Harris in crunchtime over Dennis Schroder would be a huge win for the Lakers.
Of course, there are no guarantees that Orlando will make this move as they might instead hold onto his contract to try and trade it as an expiring in the summer. If they do make the move to buy him out, though, the Lakers should be calling his agent ASAP.