A flurry of great signings by the Los Angeles Lakers brought the roster up to 13 players shortly after NBA free agency opened. Things then started to slow down as the team evaluated how to properly fill the final two spots on the roster.
Even if Los Angeles left one roster spot open for an in-season buyout signing, adding a 14th player to the roster before the season is a no-brainer. Rob Pelinka himself told reporters what the team was looking for several weeks ago, admitting that the Lakers were active in the center market.
That market is not very rich and the Lakers are reportedly looking for someone with a different skill set than Jaxson Hayes; for lack of a better term, someone who can actually shoot. The number of floor-spacing centers is already low and it is even lower when the market is depleted.
All that being said, Los Angeles still hasn’t shown much urgency in pursuing the floor-spacing options that are available. One of the last remaining floor-spacing bigs on the market, Frank Kaminsky, is leaving the NBA after signing a one-year deal with Serbian team KK Partizan.
Eight-season NBA veteran Frank Kaminsky is the new member of Partizan 🔥 pic.twitter.com/D5B85iCrMV
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) August 17, 2023
Lakers oddly let Frank Kaminsky sign internationally despite being a floor-spacing big.
Don’t get it wrong, Kamisnky is not that exciting of a player and the Lakers potentially signing him was not going to move the needle for the team. But it would have at least given the Lakers the thing they are reportedly chasing. If anything, Kaminsky was a body that could have eaten some minutes to start the season.
Obviously, if Kaminsky ended up signing in Serbia then he would have taken any kind of deal from an NBA team. This potentially includes a non-guaranteed deal. The Lakers could have had their cake and eaten it too by signing Kaminsky to this kind of contract.
It would have allowed the team to sign another player to bring the roster to 15. Then, when a better option became available in the future, LA could have waived Kaminsky in order to make space without taking the salary hit.
It appears that Los Angeles is not prioritizing the floor-spacing aspect as heavily as fans are anticipating. If the team was, it would have signed the worse all-around player (Kaminsky) since he can space the floor.
Instead, the Lakers may simply be waiting for a more experienced option, regardless of if they can actually shoot the ball or not.