Getty Los Angeles Lakers' Rob Pelinka & Frank Vogel.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked quite a few names over the last couple of months, but they have yet to make any notable roster moves this season. While they’ve stayed put, the Clippers have only gotten stronger. The most recent move was them reportedly adding Reggie Jackson – a player the Lakers wanted.
With the available player market shrinking every day, the Lakers will now turn their sights to another player, according to Sam Amick.
“… Moe Harkless is a name that I had heard that they were interested in and monitoring and still have an eye on …”
– The Athletic’s Sam Amick on the Lakers during his appearance on The Sedano Show today.
Harkless played most of the season with the Clippers and was traded to the New York Knicks at the trade deadline. He’s a decent shooter and strong defender, which are assets that could certainly help the Lakers. Plus, he should have plenty of Clippers intel after spending most of the season with them. He’d be a solid pickup for the Lakers considering what’s left on the market. However, he’d first have to get bought out by the Knicks for him to become available.
Harkless Is Probably Staying in New York
Unfortunately for the Lakers, Harkless is from New York and playing for the Knicks is a dream come true for a player like him. It’s not necessarily up to him as the team may just rather buy him out. However, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Harkless probably isn’t going anywhere.
“… my intel on the Moe Harkless thing the whole time has been that they were keeping him … I think he stays in New York with the Knicks.”
– Ramona Shelburne during her appearance on The Mason and Ireland Show today.
The Knicks are far removed from the playoff race and don’t have a need for Harkless, but he’s not super expensive and he clearly wants to be in New York. He could change his mind and decide he wants to play for a championship and force a buyout, but that seems unlikely at this point. The Lakers will have to look elsewhere if they’re planning to make any additions.
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How Serious Are the Lakers About Adding Another Piece?
Much has been made about the Lakers’ excellent team chemistry. Their inactivity could be because they are apprehensive to risk messing up a roster that’s led to the best record in the Western Conference. This is likely why they avoided making any big trades and could be why they haven’t made a notable signing yet. It was pretty obvious they were banking on landing Darren Collison, but he chose to stay retired. There’s still Dion Waiters, J.R. Smith and Tyler Johnson out there, but it remains to be seen how interested the Lakers are in those players.
Many believe that the Lakers need more in order to get past the Clippers come playoff time, but it doesn’t mean they have a bad roster. Anthony Davis and LeBron James form the NBA’s best duo. Kyle Kuzma can get hot and score a lot of points. Danny Green is a good shooter and defender. The team will also be loaded with solid big men if DeMarcus Cousins gets healthy in time for the playoffs. Adding more shooting help would do a lot and finding a backup point guard that isn’t Rajon Rondo would certainly help the team. Unfortunately, there aren’t many strong alternatives available, so the Lakers will probably need to just accept what they have.
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