Capitalizing on the missteps of another franchise is an important facet to nailing the free agency period. The Los Angeles Lakers can do that by poaching Ryan Rollins from the Milwaukee Bucks.
After the Bucks rescinded the qualifying offer for Rollins in the interest of freeing up cap space, teams started circling like vultures. Rob Pelinka has been wise enough to position the Lakers as one of the squads in the mix, according to Michael Scotto.
Scotto wrote, "Coming off the best season of his career, 23-year-old free agent guard Ryan Rollins has drawn interest from the Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told HoopsHype."
With the backup guard position continuing to be an area of concern for the Lakers, Rollins would be a fantastic acquisition. There should be a lot of intrigue in the young guard.
Rollins ticks multiple boxes for the Lakers' second unit
What do the Lakers need from their backup guard position? A good shooter who can play in lineups with Luka Doncic would be nice. A capable defender at the spot is a must-have. The ability to create offense for himself and others would be a strong bonus too.
Those can all be comfortably checked off with Rollins. The best part would be the long-term sustainability that can be gained from this move.
As Scotto mentioned above, Rollins is still only 23 years old. Depending on the contract that the Lakers can potentially secure him on, having a repeat of a situation similar to that of Austin Reaves, where the young guard quickly outgrows the dollar value on his deal, is certainly in play here.
Off the jump, Rollins' 6.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 0.8 steals per game in 14.6 minutes of action last season will not jump out at anyone. Albeit, his 40.8 percent from 3-point land will certainly catch the eye of many.
All this considered, there were plenty of moments to find the two-way guard unmistakably shining. In the 16 games when Rollins played at least 20 minutes, the Bucks guard had nine instances of scoring double-digit points. The defensive pest also averaged 1.6 steals per game in those outings.
The threat of Rollins simply returning to the Bucks has not been eliminated. Scotto pointed out in the report above that they do still have his early bird rights, even after withdrawing the qualifying offer. If they cannot secure his future in Milwaukee, the Lakers should be pouncing to get him on a one-way ticket to Los Angeles.