The Los Angeles Lakers have fallen behind when it comes to adding talent this offseason. While the team made headlines by stealing Dalton Knecht with the 17th pick and drafting Bronny James with the 55th pick, the team has not added any additional rotation players this offseason.
There was speculation about the team trading for Klay Thompson and LeBron James taking a pay cut to make it happen. That was not meant to be as Klay is now with the Dallas Mavericks.
In fact, the narrative around LeBron taking a pay cut so the Lakers could bring in an impactful third option has been squashed. LeBron signed a two-year, $104 million contract to officially put that story to bed.
While there is still room to make a big trade with the contracts the team has, Los Angeles has to operate around the edges when adding new players to the fold via free agency. Finding perfect fits this way is really hard to do but thankfully, one of the worst teams in the league just gifted the Lakers a new target who would fit perfectly in LA.
The Charlotte Hornets are waiving Davis Bertans, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Bertans, an eight-year NBA veteran, shot 38 percent from 3-point land last season. He had a partial guarantee on his Hornets deal.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 6, 2024
Davis Bertans is a great cheap free-agent target for the Lakers to pursue
Davis Bertans is not going to push the needle to extreme lengths and suddenly make the Lakers the title favorites in the NBA. There is a reason why he has bounced around the league and was just waived by a bad team, after all.
That being said, Bertans possesses a very important skill for the Lakers: three-point shooting. A team can never have too much three-point shooting and regardless of how decent it looks on paper, this team needs more shooting. Fans saw that on full display during the NBA Playoffs last season.
Bertans is a career 39.6% three-point shooter who would give the Lakers another wing option to come off the bench. There is also a small-ball lineup that is possible with Bertans, who is six-foot-ten and would theoretically fit perfectly next to Anthony Davis in the frontcourt.
Whether it be as someone who stands in the corner and essentially replaces the Taurean Prince role, or someone who is more active in the pick and roll, head coach JJ Redick can have a lot of fun scheming open looks for Bertans.
At the very least, he is another three-point-shooting option, which the Lakers can never have too many of. If it doesn't pan out then fine, he will just be a veteran-minimum signing anyway.