Championship-winning Lakers that may be back in LA by Opening Night

3. JaVale McGee

JaVale McGee is not yet on the market but he is still someone who could be back in Los Angeles in time for Opening Night. McGee is currently on the Dallas Mavericks but all signs are pointing to Dallas moving on and getting him off the books somehow.

This could mean a straight-up buyout from Dallas or it could involve McGee getting moved in a trade and then bought out. Either way, there is a viable path for McGee to hit the open market and at that point, he would just be ring-chasing and would look to sign with a contender.

What better contender to sign with than a team he is already familiar with where he can live in sunny Southern California? Seems like the perfect situation for McGee, but what about the Lakers?

JaVale McGee isn’t perfect for the Lakers but is better than most options

McGee certainly does not check the box of being a floor-spacing big and if that is a non-negotiable for the Lakers then McGee will never be considered. However, there are not many great options out there for LA with McGee being better than most.

It very well could come down to the Lakers not having many viable options instead of McGee. In a perfect world, the team would be able to sign him to a non-guaranteed deal to potentially move off of him in the future in order to get a big that better fits what LA needs.

But let’s be honest, floor-spacing bigs will be a dime a dozen at the trade deadline (look at Mo Bamba last year). So just getting McGee for the time being and putting off the need until a better option is available is not the worst idea.