The Los Angeles Lakers are officially in the hunt for a new center in the wake of DeMarcus Cousins’ season-ending ACL injury.
According to the Lakers’ Adrian Wojnarowski, the team will be working out three centers to fill the void left by Cousins — including interest in another veteran center. That quartet would include none other than former Lakers center Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah, Marcin Gortat and Marreese Speights — with Speights being the most random name of them all.
Sources: Lakers planning individual workouts to evaluate centers Joakim Noah, Dwight Howard and Mo Speights this week in Los Angeles. Another consideration currently overseas: Marcin Gortat. Lakers want a window into physical condition and mindset of a potential addition.
The Lakers’ Quartet of Options
While Howard is considered the favorite, the idea of Noah being signed by the Lakers wouldn’t be a surprise. He did play well last season as a backup big logging 15 minutes per contest in 42 appearances for the Memphis Grizzlies. Furthermore, Los Angeles wouldn’t have to wait for Noah to be waived — he’s a free agent. In the case of Howard, he’s still technically under contract with the Grizzlies after being acquired via trade in early July.
Gortat would be a stretch. The guy is 35 years old and although he’s a “low-risk” option, he also offers very low upside. The positive with Gortat is that he isn’t rusty. He did play last season, starting 43 of 47 games before being waived in early February as the Clippers reloaded their roster and went younger as Ivica Zubac took over the starting position.
But of the four players mentioned, no player is experiencing the wrath of Twitter more than Speights. Heck, Speights wasn’t actually a bad player during his 10 seasons in the NBA, proving to be a capable stretch big. He also won a ring with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 and was a member of the record-setting 73-9 team in 2015-16. Heck, he’s also the youngest of the group at just 30 years of age.
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But this is Twitter we’re talking here and Speights hasn’t played in the NBA in two seasons. Needless to say, his name wasn’t rumored at all to be a target of the Lakers, so his name almost feels like a random one thrown in the bag.
Let’s check out some of the best tweets regarding this quartet of Lakers hopefuls — with none being picked on more than Speights.
Mo Speights. I’m Partly embarrassed
mo speights: *makes 40 midrange jumpers in a row*
joakim noah: *boxes out 16 guys for an offensive rebound*
frank vogel: alright dwight what you got
dwight:
@wojespn MO SPEIGHTS!? IS THIS 2K11!?
Summary of Mo Speights’ defensive @The_BBall_Index talent grades vs Bigs with 1,000+ minutes every year in our database
Twitter rooting for Mo Speights over Dwight Howard is… Man, remember when Dwight was beloved? The funny guy? A fan favourite?
If it’s any consolation for the Purple and Gold faithful, they can also rest peacefully at night knowing that Speights is the potential favorite to be signed by Rob Pelinka and the Lakers.
Marreese Speights Was the Most Productive of All
If you’re wondering how all four players fared last season, Speights was actually the most productive — albeit while playing in China. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 22 points and seven rebounds per game — the best numbers of any of the four players!
Meanwhile, Lakers fan favorite Dwight Howard averaged 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while being limited to just nine games due to a glute injury. Noah averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while Gortat averaged 5.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Despite all of the Twitter hate, it just makes too much sense for the Lakers to go with Speights over a former All-Star, a former Defensive Player of the Year and an international phenom, right?
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Lakers’ DeMarcus Cousins Replacements Send Twitter Into Frenzy