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After the first day of free agency, the Los Angeles Lakers looked set to be absurdly old. There was a point when Anthony Davis (28) was the youngest player on the roster. However, the team was able to land younger players in Kendrick Nunn (26) and Malik Monk (23) in free agency.
Prior to Tuesday, the Lakers had three more roster spots to fill. It looks like they’ve gone the young route with the few remaining spots. The team announced on Tuesday that they’ve signed rookies Mac McClung and Chaundee Brown Jr.
The two are currently playing in the NBA’s Summer League and have clearly impressed the Lakers enough to earn a chance at making the regular-season roster. In their first Summer League game on Sunday, McClung scored 10 points while Brown scored 11 en route to a 73-72 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Both players signed with the Lakers as undrafted free agents shortly after the draft. McClung is a bit of a YouTube star due to some impressive dunking highlights. Brown isn’t as notable a name but he did hit 41.9% of his threes during his last season at Michigan.
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McClung the Next Alex Caruso?
Lakers fans were hit with some really bad news this offseason when Alex Caruso signed a three-year deal with the Chicago Bulls. He was the team’s first two-way player and became a massive fan favorite. Not only was he just a fan favorite, but he was also a really good player for them. Replacing him won’t be easy. However, some fans are ready to anoint McClung as the next Caruso.
Obviously, it’s far too early to suggest McClung is a Caruso replacement. It’s easy to forget that Caruso earned a starting spot in the closeout NBA Finals game against the Miami Heat last year. Lakers fans are trying to figure out how to cope with the loss of the guard. The easiest way to do that is to find a replacement. That could be McClung but it’s going to take a bit of time to know that for sure.
1 More Roster Spot Left
With McClung and Brown getting signed, the Lakers only have one roster spot left. Common sense would suggest that the spot is reserved for Jared Dudley. The veteran forward doesn’t play a lot of minutes but has become an important leader on the bench. He’s essentially a player coach. He said during the season that he’d like to play for one more year before transitioning into a different role. If he’s still planning to return, the Lakers will likely give him the lost roster spot.
However, it’s also possible they go in a different direction. The team already has a ton of veteran leadership between LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard. Adding Dudley could be overkill. Perhaps the Lakers target an athletic big like Bismack Biyombo or another shooter like JJ Redick. This late in free agency, it’s hard to imagine Los Angeles finds a rotation player so they’ll likely wait things out before they make a decision on the last roster spot.
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