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The Los Angeles Lakers are feeling good about their roster but there are still a couple of openings left. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported on Tuesday that the team is interested in adding a guard. They have worked out Isaiah Thomas, Darren Collison and Mike James. No signing has been made quite yet and it’s easy to see the Lakers take their time.
One player they should take a look at is Avery Bradley. He was a key part of the team during the 2019-2020 season before he decided to opt-out of the bubble. The Lakers went on to win a championship without him. Perhaps he feels like he has unfinished business in Los Angeles. He’s still sitting in free agency and Dan Favale of Bleacher Report believes the Lakers are among the best fits for him.
“Teams can, and should, and inevitably will, live with the trade-offs,” Favale wrote. “The days of treating Bradley like a premier defender with a higher offensive ceiling are over, but he doesn’t turn 31 until November and still checks enough boxes to fall under the three-and-D canopy.”
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Bradley Makes Sense for Lakers
With the Lakers losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Dennis Schroder and Alex Caruso this offseason, they’ve lost a lot of defense in their backcourt. Russell Westbrook is a great player but he’s never made an All-Defensive Team and isn’t known for his defense. Bradley has made an All-Defensive Team twice in his career and remains a strong defender at 30-years-old.
He could help fill the defensive void off the bench that has been left by Caruso. He’s not a great 3-point shooter but averages 36.3% over his career so he’s certainly capable of knocking down an occasional shot. With the Lakers’ current roster, Bradley wouldn’t be asked to play a ton of minutes so it might not be the most appealing landing spot for him. That said, joining the team for a year would give him a great shot at winning another championship.
Lakers Are in No Rush to Fill out Roster
As previously noted, it’s unlikely the Lakers are looking for rotational players this late into the offseason. Anybody they add will just be the cherry on top. The season won’t start until late October so there’s no rush. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Lakers decided to see how things are coming together in training camp and then decide what they need.
While it’s never a bad thing to have too many guards, Los Angeles could also need another athletic center and/or wing. Marc Gasol and Dwight Howard are old and Frank Vogel loves his bigs. It’s hard to imagine they don’t add another center at some point during the season. A wing who can shoot threes and play defense would also be nice. Trevor Ariza and Carmelo Anthony aren’t the players they once were and the Lakers could use some more athleticism on the wing.
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