With Westbrook now headed to Los Angeles, multiple league personnel contacted by B/R expect there to be significant interest from several veterans, including DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay and Carmelo Anthony, to forgo higher salary opportunities elsewhere and join the Lakers in pursuit of a championship.įor what it’s worth, this slightly conflicts with a report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports on Friday, in which Haynes reported that the DeRozan possibility was dead now that Kyle Kuzma is no longer available to be traded to the Spurs in a sign-and-trade swap.
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report said earlier this week that executives around the league felt like there were veterans lining up to take less to join the Lakers, and on Saturday, Fischer reported who a few of those names are thought to be ( via B/R): The good news is that the team will reportedly have quite a few good players who are willing to take less to join a title contender in Los Angeles. The team is expected to have the $5.9 million, mini mid-level exception to use in free agency, and can exceed the cap to re-sign their own free agents like Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso, but beyond that will mostly be adding to the roster with veteran’s minimum contracts. With Russell Westbrook returning home to play with Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a ton of cap flexibility to add players around their three stars.
