The Los Angeles Lakers made a flurry of moves at the NBA trade deadline to rebuild the roster and all things considered, it was a great showing for Rob Pelinka and co. Los Angeles got younger and more talented and did not have to give up many assets to do so.
With 14 players currently on the roster, Los Angeles has the ability to sign a buyout target without having to make any other roster moves. With a long break courtesy of the NBA All-Star Game, the front office will have time to mull over the candidates and start moving toward a decision.
The buyout market continues to evolve with new candidates becoming available. A new potential candidate has emerged for the Lake Show as former LeBron James teammate Kevin Love is finalizing a contract buyout with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Lakers should at least consider Kevin Love as a buyout candidate.
Kevin Love is not the best basketball fit stylistically but it is not like the Lakers are going to land an extremely impactful player in the buyout market anyway. The point of the buyout market is to add depth and to get another body that can log regular-season minutes and compete for a spot in the rotation.
Love can at least do that because of his ability to space the floor. There is no such thing as having too much shooting on a roster and having another frontcourt option that can at least space the floor can open doors for Darvin Ham’s rotation.
Plus, there are a lot of connections between Love and the Lakers that force fans to at least consider him as a candidate. The Lakers have shown an affinity for Love before and we know that LeBron James likes him. Add in the fact that Love played college ball at UCLA and is from Los Angeles and it isn’t hard to see how the two sides can work this out.
Love is not the best possible candidate for the Lake Show to pursue but you never know the kind of impact that someone can have. Markieff Morris ended up having a big impact on the 2020 title run, posting the third-best playoff three-point percentage in franchise history.
That big who could space the floor ended up working out great for Los Angeles. Perhaps they try to catch lightning in a bottle twice, this time with Love.